34 BULLETIN 117, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



SUMMAEY OF DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF 51 GENERA AND 70 SPECIES TAKEN IN THE TEMPERATE 



Z0NE.16 



GENERA. 



Of general distribution II 



Of South Temperate Zone origin 1 



Andean and aoutheastern Brazil 1 



Tropical 8 



Restricted to Subtropical and Temperate Zones 2 



Restricted to the Temperate Zone 28 



Total 51 



SPECIES. 



Of general distribution 7 



Restricted to the Subtropical and Temperate Zones 7 



Restricted to the Temperate Zone 56 



Total 70 



PUNA OR PABAMO ZONE. 



The Puna of Peru corresponds to the Paramo of Colombia. Both 

 regions lie between the upper limit of arborescent vegetation and 

 the lower limit of snow. On the eastern Andes in the Urubamba 

 region, this is approximately between the altitudes of 12,500 and 

 15,000 feet,^° limits which agree with those we found to exist in the 

 Central Andes of Colombia. 



Faunally, however, where insufficient rainfall prohibits forest 

 growth, the Puna Zone reaches a much lower level. As stated 

 previously, at Ttica-Ttica (altitude 11,900 feet), near Cuzco, it 

 completely inosculates with the upper border of the arid Temperate 

 Zone. The two zones are here distinguished by the presence or 

 absence of bushy vegetation, a difference controlled wholly by 

 water supply. Much additional field work is required to determine 

 the interrelations of these zones. Since the bird life of the Puna 

 has been derived largely from the South Temperate Zone in Pata- 

 gonia it may prove to be desirable to characterize the Puna as an 

 Andean Temperate and apply a new name for the forested and bush- 

 grown Zone which I have here termed Temperate. This problem, 

 however, can not be treated from a local standpoint, nor indeed do 

 data as yet exist for its solution. 



In Colombia the flora of the Paramo with its frailejons and other 

 striking species, is so characteristic that no difficulty is experienced 

 in distinguishmg Temperate Zone savanna from the Paramo above 

 it. But the uniformly grass-covered plains and slopes and the 

 marshes of the Puna afford no such obvious boundaries. 



" In Colombia we found some 70 genera and somewhat over 100 species cliaracteristic of the Temperate 

 Zone. I can not say whether the excess in number over those found in Peru is actual or due to an incom- 

 plete knowledge of Peruvian bird life, but note that even our local collecting in the Urubamba Region 

 reveals the much more highly developed Puna or Paramo fatnia of Peru. 



18 See Bowman, the Andes of southern Peru, p. 274. 



