146 Ruo ADS, Birds of the Paramo of Central Ecuador. [April 



we got back to Quito I asked Mr. Soderstrom to explain it all. 

 The rushing wind he thought might be an Owl or some flying night- 

 bird, possibly a "Woodcock" gyrating, or possibly "one of those 

 Grouse." The Puma-like roars were surely from an Owl, and the 

 minor refrain the chirping, peeping notes of the innocent and 

 timorous Tinamous! What an anti-climax to my tragedy! 



Our first morning on the mountain-top dawned gloomily enough, 

 and it was tough work kindling a fire and warming up a bit. While 

 Lemmon fanned the smudge I visited my frozen mouse traps and 

 was cheered not a little by a very good catch of small rodents, an 

 order very poorly represented in the lower altitudes of Ecuador. 

 Near the spring I came across a brown bird whose make up and 

 actions reminded me of a hybrid between a Wheat-ear and a Shore- 

 lark,^ as it ran about the banks and spray dashed rocks of the pool. 

 It proved to be another member of that strange South American 

 family of Dendrocolaptids. Not long after, as we rose over the 

 ridge that separated us from the final slope to the crater, a few more 

 were seen in compan^^ with a larger species, Upucerthia excelsior 

 (Scl.), whose color was very similar but whose physique and move- 

 ments among the sparse grass and heather reminded us of a cross 

 between a Palmer's Thrasher and a Cactus Wren. Both these 

 birds were almost wholly silent, only a sort of low, troubled, warn- 

 ing note escaping them when more sorely pressed by our pursuit. 



The general absence of song, or even of voice, among the really 

 abundant bird-life of this sublime region gives one a sort of awesome 

 feeling as he goes popping about the slopes with a puny cane-gun. 

 What are all these birds doing here? They don't seem to be breed- 

 ing or mating or migrating; — just living, shiftless, without any 

 object in life. Not so, however, the Hummingbirds. The lower 

 half or two thirds of the Paramo is largely destitute of Hummers 

 at this time of year, except as one may be seen to dart swiftly 

 across in its journey to a distant peak. As one nears the snow 

 line, however, and the top of Pichincha peers out at intervals 

 from among the clouds, only 1000 feet above him, the Hill-Stars, 

 Oreotrochilus pichincha Bourc, as they are called by Gould, sud- 

 denly become abundant. Flowers are far from common in the 



' Its Dipper-like habits are alluded to in the generic name. It is Cinclodea 

 fuscus albidiventris Scl. 



