Amphiuians and Reptilks of Santa Marix 9 



an altitude of about 6,000 feet. Other roads are being projected by the 

 Government and by private interests, and with these once opened it is a 

 foregone conclusion that all the forested country within reach of them will 

 soon be reduced to pasture land and cultivated fields. Already the greater 

 portion of the humid forest, occupying the lowlands on the west side, 

 between Cienega and Fundacion, has disappeared, and to get at undisturbed 

 conditions representing this habitat it is now necessary to go to the great 

 forests of the Ariguani, about thirty miles south of Fvuidacion. 



The Field Work of the Writer: I began collecting birds in the Santa 

 Marta district in 191 1, arriving at the city of Santa Marta late in May. 

 The first work was done at the hacienda Cincinnati (formerly known as 

 Valparaiso). This is the largest coffee plantation in the region and lies on 

 the northwest slopes of Alt. San Lorenzo, between 3,000 and 5,000 feet. It 

 is surrounded by forest extending downward to the foothills and upward 

 to the crest of the mountain, which attains an elevation of 8,300 feet at the 

 Avestem end. More or less continuous work was done at Cincinnati and 

 on San Lorenzo during June and July, and in August, lower down, between 

 Mamatoco and Cincinnati, at La Tigrera and Alinca, and Agua Dulce. No 

 more collecting was done until March of the following year, when an 

 attempt was made to reach the Sierra Nevada proper by way of the ridge 

 connecting it with San Lorenzo. Three weeks were occupied in this attempt, 

 which was finally given up as impracticable, after an elevation of about 

 8,000 feet was reached on the main ridge leading to the paramos. There 

 was no trail of any sort, nothing but unbroken forest, and trail had to be 

 cut with machetes. After reaching an altitude of about 8,000 feet progress 

 was checked by an impenetrable mass of brush and huge bromelias from 

 four to ten feet in height. Water was very difficult to secure and birds 

 •extremely scarce, so that, after a couple of days of heart-breaking work 

 in an attempt to pass this barrier, the trip was abandoned and the party 

 returned to Cincinnati. After this failure to reach the Nevada, work was 

 •continued at Cincinnati and around Mamatoco until the end of April, when 

 I returned to the States for a much needed vacation, having been in the 

 field constantly for nearly three years. 



My return to Santa Marta was made in September of 1912, accom- 

 panied by Mrs. Carriker. Some intermittent collecting was done in the 

 vicinity of Cincinnati during the remainder of 1912 and the early part 

 of 1913. 



In April, 191 3, accompanied by Mrs. Carriker, who had now acquired 

 some skill in the preparation of specimens, I again began intensive work 

 Avhich continued almost uninterruptedly during the remainder of 19 13. The 

 first locality worked was the valley of the Tamocal Creek, between Mama- 

 toco and La Tigrera. Later the vicinity of Mamatoco and Santa Marta 

 was examined, and several trips were made to Gaira and to the beach 

 beyond. In May a trip was made to the hacienda Las Vegas, situated at 

 an elevation of from three to five thousand feet above sea level on the 

 northeast slopes of the Horqueta, near one of the sources of the Rio Men- 



