148 Rhoads, Birds of the Paramo of Central Ecuador. [April 



isolation and provincialism of certain species of birds, so have the 

 neighboring peaks of the Andes, rising above the semi-tropical 

 ocean of the "Templada," become the refuge of slowly vanishing 

 groups of birds whose very existence depends on an equatorial 

 environment that is elevated about 13,000 feet above the sea. 



There are other species of Hummingbirds which venture into 

 the Paramo and even range over the top of Pichincha, but the Hill- 

 Stars outnumber and outgeneral them ten to one. One of these 

 is a dark Thorn-bill, Ramphomicron stanlcyi Bourc, which feeds 

 in a dainty, topsy-turvy fashion on the alpine crocuses and dwarfed 

 heaths, which, near the snow line, have absolutely no stems but 

 just bloom at the surface of the sand and ash. It is "heels-over- 

 head" with these Hummers and they can take the turn with wonder- 

 ful grace, seeming to be walking from flower to flower on their bills. 

 Once in the hand, this species displays amazing colors, a beard of 

 ruby fire on the lower throat; the chin metallic green; the long, 

 broad and emarginate tail of a peacock blue ! Gould says it is only 

 found within the crater of Pichincha. We found it only outside, 

 along a narrow gorge, 500 feet below the crater's top. Just as 

 the snow is reached, the sandy crater-slopes are strewn with 

 boulders, and seated on these w^e here find for the first time a 

 beautiful grayish Flycatcher, Muscisaxicola alpina Jard., dark 

 above, nearly white beneath, the size of our Phoebe, darting lan- 

 guidly about after the insects which have dared this thin and frigid 

 atmosphere. Not a sound save a weak and plaintive call escapes 

 them and their presence seems to heighten the mystery of a haunted 

 land. Here, too, is the very exclusive haunt of the whistling, loud- 

 calling "Partridge" ^ of the arenal, — the Crater Partridge it may 

 well be termed, a brownish, sand-colored bird of swift, nervous 

 flight and about the size of a Pigeon. 



Hawks are not rare; a black fellow with red legs, the size of our 

 Sharp-shin, often darting around the quebradas after an unwary 

 bird or mouse. The handsome Vulturine Hawk, Ibyder caruncu- 

 latus (Des Murs.), looking and behaving much as our Texan 

 Caracara, was seen about camp in pairs and one was shot by Mr. 

 Lemmon out of the driving mists on the very crater brink of Pi- 



» Not a Partridge at all, but a seed-eating Plover-snipe, belonging to the Charad- 

 riiform.es; Attagis chimborazensis Scl. 



