310 ANlsTUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915, 



last note sometimes drops off in a throaty slur, instead of rising a 

 tone: A, F, E. 



On the west slope of the Eastern Andes we found another species, 

 G. hypoleuca, whose song, though readily recognizable as a GraUaria^ 

 was radically different in form. One longish note on B; a rest; 

 then about five ascending notes a scant semitone apart, and four to 

 the second. This bore a striking resemblance to the first half of 

 ChaiTKBza hremcauda^s song heard on the eastern slope of the Eastern 

 Andes at Buena Vista, and is almost identical with that of GraUaria 

 rufula from the highest timbered ridges of this chain, except that 

 here the pause is omitted and the song is higher, beginning on E. 



Little GraUarla modesta^ from the eastern foot of the Andes at 

 Villavicencio, has a most characteristic little song, all on E. It has 

 seven sharply staccato notes, forming a perfect crescendo to the 

 fourth, then diminishing to piano again at the end. The middle 

 note is strongly accented. This little hermit lives in the sweltering 

 weed thickets along the sun-baked beds of the lowland streams. I 

 shall never forget an hour in a burr thicket, with nettle accompani- 

 ment, at a temperature of perhaps 115°, trying to find the elusive 

 author of that queer little song. At least five times I had him within 

 close range, but never could I see more than a ghost of a movement 

 or the sudden wiggle of a fern rubbed against in his approach. 

 Nearly discouraged, with hair, eyebrows, and clothes matted thick 

 with little buri's, almost exhausted with the heat, I at last hit upon a 

 very effective scheme. Deliberately clearing out a space of 10 or 15 

 feet and a tapering lane through which I could watch the opening, 

 by gently approaching the sound I drove it to a point well beyond 

 my clearing and retreated to my statfon. Waiting here a few min- 

 utes in silence, I repeated the call, in full loudness, until I got a 

 response. Then, as the bird approached, I did the call more softly, 

 to appear farther away and allay his wariness. My unfair subter- 

 fuge worked, and the little long-legged piper entered my trap unsus- 

 pecting, and I was able to identify it. We had not encountered this 

 species before, and never saw it again after leaving the torrid low- 

 lands about Villavicencio. I was never able to identify the song of 

 the big slaty-blue breasted G. ruftceps in the uppermost forest zone 

 above Bogota. These were all the species of the genus that I per- 

 sonally encountered. 



On the wooded slopes above Villavicencio we found another bird 

 conspicuous in song, but spiritlike in actions. We at first thought it 

 was a Grallaria^ but it proved to be a closely allied bird, Chavnaeza 

 hrevicauda^ very similar, but with shorter legs and more delicate bill. 

 It had a curious song of about seven gradually ascending "toots," 

 followed by four or five queer little falling yelps, " oot, oot, oot, oot. 



