12 BULLETIiq" 117, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The collections from the arid Temperate Zone and from the Paramo 

 or Puna Zone are doubtless reasonably complete. In both zones the 

 fauna is comparatively limited and the open nature of the country 

 renders it difficult for birds to escape observation. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF COLLECTING STATIONS. 



The detailed descriptions of the collecting stations, prepared chiefly 

 by Heller, which are given beyond may be prefaced by an outline 

 which, avoiding repetition as much as possible, may give consecu- 

 tively the more significant features of the country under consideration 

 as they affect the distribution of bird-life. 



As used here, the term Urubamba Valley, is designed to include the 

 district through which the Urubamba River flows from its source at 

 La Ra3^a to its entrance on the forested Amazonian plains at the 

 Pongo de Mainique. Our survey includes not only the shores of the 

 river but the slopes arising from it and crests overlooking it, all (ex- 

 cepting "Occobamba VaUey") in Urubamba drainage. 



The causes underlying the topography and climatic conditions, both 

 general and local, of this region are fully treated in Bowman's "The 

 Andes of Southern Peru."^ a v>"ork which may stand as a model of 

 objective observation and subjective consideration. 



My experience in other parts of the Andes confirms the opinion ex- 

 pressed, I believe, by Professor Bingham, that the Urubamba region 

 contains the most impressive scenery of the entire Andean system. 

 Certainly no other section of this great mountain chain has been more 

 adequately photographed, but, although I was familiar Vv-ith the re- 

 sults achieved and had seen the best of them as enlargements or 

 lantern-slide projections, they gave me but a faint conception of the 

 magnitude, grandeur, and diversity of the scenery of the region. Any 

 attempt on my part to describe its beauties would therefore be not 

 only foreign to my theme but fruitless. 



So gradual is the slope from the shores of Lake Titicaca over the old 

 lake bed to the pass at La Raya, so flat the grass-covered valley floor, 

 that no striking topographic features announce the approach of the 

 divide between Titicacan and Amazonian drainage. Only the 

 accelerated motion of the train as it starts down the steeper grades of 

 the upper Urubamba Valley tells the unobservant traveller that he has 

 passed the highest point (altitude 14,010 feet) in his journey from 

 Titicaca to Cuzco. 



The country immediately south of the Pass is dry, upland pasture; 

 but within a few yards north of the Pass one enters an area of marshes, 

 springs, small streams, and lagoons in which the Urubamba River has 

 its origin. The change is abrupt and striking and is accompanied by 



8Amorican Geographical Society. 



