^cS Phelps, Birds observed in Venezuela. foct' 



not comprised in any of the foregoing divisions. This separation 

 into districts was chiefly based on collections made by Mr. A. 

 Goering i over a large part of the country. To that enterprising 

 collector we are indebted for almost all the knowledge we have 

 of the birds of this interesting country, even up to the present 

 day. 



It is the first of these districts, the eastern, that most interests 

 us, for it was in the mountains of the State of Bermudez that I 

 studied the birds during a few weeks in the summer of 1896. I 

 chose this locality because it seemed to present, besides a rich 

 avifauna, special problems of interest. Perhaps the most inter- 

 esting of these was the relation of the birds of the mainland to 

 those of the islands of Trinidad and Margarita. 



The island of Trinidad lies off the eastern coast and is distant 

 but seven miles from the mainland. The birds of this island are 

 perhaps better known than those of any other part of the tropics. 

 This is because of its accessibility, its rich avifauna and its 

 offering of comforts to the traveller which are rare in tropical 

 South America. In marked contrast is the scanty knowledge of 

 the birds of the adjoining mainland, of that whole group of 

 mountains comprised within the territory designated, by Dr. 

 Ernst, as the eastern district. 



Lying off the northern coast, seventeen miles from the mainland, 

 is the island of Margarita, the avifauna of which was a sealed 

 book until Lieut. Wirt Robinson ^ visited it in the summer of 

 1895. In size the island is somewhat smaller than Trinidad but 

 in aspect there is little resemblance, it being for the most part 

 desert. 



Two collections, only, have been made on the mainland 

 adjoining these two islands. In the winter of 1866-67, Mr. A. 

 Goering made a trip of several months, penetrating the interior, 



' On Venezuelan Birds collected by Mr. A. Goering. By P. L. Sclater and 

 Osbert Salvin. P. Z. S., 1868, pp. 165-173, and 626-632; 1869, pp. 250-259. 

 and 1870, pp. 779-788. 



"^ An Annotated List of Birds observed on the Island of Margarita, and at 

 Quanta and Laguayra, Venezuela. With critical notes and descriptions of 

 new species by Charles W. Richmond. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIII, pp. 

 649-6S5, PI. XXXIII. 



