SOUTH AMERICAN EXPEDITION 285 



Some four hundred birds were collected on the upper Orinoco, but none 

 were taken above an altitude of seven hundred feet at the base of Duida 

 and the fauna of the mountain still remains unknown. Mr. Miller will 

 probably renew his attempt to conquer it and the receipt of further collec- 

 tions will be awaited before attempting to report on the specimens already 

 obtained. Six hundred specimens were secured at Cristobal-Colon includ- 

 ing a surprising number of species not found in Trinidad. 



From Cristobal-Colon on the Paria Peninsula (which was attacked by 

 revolutionists shortly after Mr. Miller left it), Mr. Miller proceeded to Port 

 of Spain, Trinidad, whence his collections were shipped to New York, and 

 proceeded thence to Georgetown, British Guiana. Here he was greatly 

 assisted by government officials in procuring the necessary permit to collect 

 specimens and was soon established at Tumatumari near the junction of the 

 Essequibo and Potaro Rivers. Under date of August 1, Mr. Miller reports 

 that the surrounding primeval forests were proving most productive collect- 

 ing ground and that in spite of a daily rainfall of between two and three 

 inches, his collections were growing at the rate of about two hundred 

 birds and mammals per week. October first, Mr. Miller is to sail from 

 Georgetown for Barbados to join the Roosevelt expedition. 



FIELD work in Ecuador, under Mr. Richardson has proved successful 

 during the past season and a shipment of 1400 birds and mammals 

 has just been received from him. These specimens were collected 

 in part on the coast from the northern extension of the arid coastal zone of 

 Peru and give us definite information of where this arid strip merges into 

 the humid coastal region of northeastern Ecuador and western Colombia. 



Mr. Richardson also collected in the luxuriant forests of the subtropical 

 zone at an altitude of 6000 feet, in the temperate zone about Quito and the 

 base of Pinchincha, and in the paramo or alpine zone of Pinchincha and 

 Chimborazo, working on the latter mountain up to an altitude of 16,000 feet. 

 Here Mr. Richardson secured specimens and accessories for a habitat 

 group to represent the bird life of the upper life-zone of this famous 

 volcano. 



FROM Peru, the Museum's available study material has received an 

 exceptionally important addition in the collections made by Mr. 

 R. H. Beck for Mr. F. F. Brewster and Dr. L. C. Sanford. A large 

 shipment lately received from Mr. Beck is particularly rich in little-known 

 marine forms collected well off the coast of Peru, and in a beautifully 

 prepared series of water-fowl from Lake Junin, situated at an altitude of 

 13,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes, which includes the Andean flamingo and 

 many other species not heretofore represented in the Museum. 



