r P.N.E.Z.C. 



1 8 BANGS CHIRIQUI BIRDS _ Vol. Ill 



full of tanagers and warblers. This zone extends up to about 

 5000 feet. Between 5000 and 8000 feet another change in the 

 bird life is noticed, but not so marked a one. 



"At 10,000 feet the character of the forest changes decidedly, 

 the trees become low and stunted, their trunks and branches are 

 thickly covered with cold, saturated moss. On some of the 

 branches globular formations of moss give an odd appearance to 

 the tree. The undergrowth is chiefly of berry-bearing shrubs and 

 two species of cane, with ferns and flowering herbs. One shrub 

 produces a berry about the size of a cherry, which has a rich 

 flavor, and of which doves and the big Merula \M. nigrescens] 

 are very fond. At 11,000 feet the forest ends, and at the timber 

 line the characteristic species are the Junco \Junco vulcani~\, a big- 

 footed finch \Pezapetes capitalis\ the long-tailed ptilogonys and a 

 curious little wren with peculiar notes, that lives in the cane 

 brakes [Troglodytes browniX. The country is open, broken, 

 barren and very rocky, but there is a growth of low huckleberry- 

 like shrubs that average ten inches in height and are literally 

 black with berries. There are also low flowering plants, and 

 some tiny ferns, different from any seen below. 



" Standing up high above this desolate region is the great rocky 

 peak of Mt. Chiriqui, which I believe I am the only man to have 

 climbed. The summit is a towering rock, its extreme point so 

 sharp and narrow that I had to straddle it. Under one foot was 

 a sheer fall of some nine hundred feet, under the other a sharp 

 slope of six or seven hundred. I found no signs of any previous 

 ascent, but left two records of my own visit. From the top I 

 looked down on the waters of the Caribbean Sea and of the Pacific 

 Ocean, seeing distinctly the indentations of both coasts. To the 

 west I could see the Costa Rican Mountains, and to the east 

 stretched an ocean of small peaks. My aneroid registered 

 11,500 ft." 



In identifying the species in the collection I have been much 

 assisted by Dr. Robert Ridgway, Mr. E. VV. Nelson and Mr. H. 

 C. Oberholser, to all of whom I express my sincerest thanks, as 

 well as to the authorities of the National Museum, the Biological 

 Survey and the Boston Society of Natural History, for allowing 



