THE ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO WESTERN COLOMBIA 



lit/ Fntiil: M. CliiijJiiKin 



NOW that the birds and niaininuls of North America arc adcfiiiatcly 

 rrpri'scntcd in our imisciiius, American zoolof^nsts arc turiiiiij,^ their 

 attention to South America. At tiie ])resent time the fauna of 

 South America is represented in European museums much more fully tlmn 

 it is in American museums. It is hi;j;h time therefore that \\v should enter 

 this field, and the heiiinninu- of tlu' present year saw no less than six .\merican 

 e.xpechtions en^'afi;ed in zocilo^ical work in northern South .\merica. Anionj,^ 

 these, two re])resente(l the .VuKM'ican Museum — namely, one conducted 

 by Mr. M. A. ("arrikci-, Jr., who is collecting- mannnals for the Museum in 

 Venezuehi and tlie Santa Marta region in ("oIoml)ia; and a .second, under 

 the direction of the writer, in the Cauca region of Colombia. This portion 

 of Colombia is said to be one of the most mountainous regions in the world. 

 Its great physiographic (li\ersity and the widely varying climatic conditions 

 to be found there make it doubtless one of the most interesting parts of 

 South America for biological work. 



While many thousands of birds and mammals ha\e been collected in 

 tropical America heretofore, a large proportion of them have been secured 

 either by natives or by professional collectors, who were more interested 

 in the acquisition and sale of specimens than in the record of observations 

 which would make these specimens of value in the study of a distribution 

 of life. In selecting this part of South America therefore as a field for inves- 

 tigation, the [Museum had in mind not only the enrichment of its collections, 

 I ut also the gathering of data on which to base a study of the distribution 

 of life in this exceedingly interesting and comparatively little-known part 

 of the world. 



It will be obser\-eil that inuncdiatcly north of the boundary of Ecuador, 

 the Andes are dixidcd into tlii'ce well-marked ranges. Coast, ( 'entral and 

 Eastern. The Coast Range, so far as our explorations have informed us, 

 does not exceed an elevation of 1(),.")00 feet. The average elevation of the 

 Central Range is al)ont 12, ()()() feet, with several peaks ha\ing an elevation 

 of at least l.S,()()() feet. Snowline we have found to be reached at an ele\ation 

 of 15,000 feet. The Eastern Range reaches approximately the elevation 

 of the Coast Range and is without snow peaks. Between the Coast and 

 the Central Ranges lies the Cauca Valley, some two hundred miles in length 

 and thirty in width, and having an average elevation of lioOO feet; in this 

 respect being unlike any other valley of similar extent in South .\merica. 

 So far as its climate goes, it is rather an elevated plateau than a \alley. 

 Between the Central and the Eastern Ranges lies the valley of the 



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