CARTAGO TO RUIZ AND SANTA ISABEL 49 



santly, or fed on fruits or seeds in the bushes. The)- are 

 also abundant in towns and villages and nest under tile 

 roofs, in hollow posts, and in holes in walls. The people 

 are very fond of the little "love-birds" as they are called and 

 keep them in their patios as pets. 



At Balsas, which served as the first night's stopping- 

 place, we discovered a whippoorwill's (Stenopsis ruficervix) 

 nest in a clump of bamboo. The single egg had been de- 

 posited on the leaves near a bamboo sprout that was rap- 

 idly pushing its way upward like a huge stalk of asparagus. 

 The incubating bird fluttered away as we approached, but 

 we returned the next morning and Allen secured a photo- 

 graph of her on the nest. 



Noon of the next day found us at Finlandia, an inviting 

 village with a population of about four hundred, and situ- 

 ated at an elevation of six thousand four hundred feet. 

 All this country is the foot-hills of the Central Andean 

 Range. Rounded hills follow one another in a succession of 

 gentle billows, the sides of which are so gradual that one 

 hardly realizes there is a steady ascent. The forest that 

 covers the ridge on the other side of Finlandia is of a heavy, 

 subtropical character — the first of its kind we had encoun- 

 tered on this trip. Red howling monkeys were roaring in 

 the ravine below, but the birds of the forest belonged to a 

 fauna different from the one we had just left. 



The palm-filled valley of the Boquilla had been reached 

 by night. Salento, with its low, whitewashed houses, was 

 clearly visible on top of the next ridge. It required just 

 thirty minutes next morning to reach the town after a 

 climb of nine hundred feet. We did not stop at the settle- 

 ment, but continued up the time-honored trail leading to 

 Quindio Pass; within a short time forest of the most promis- 

 ing kind had been reached and camp was being made in a 

 sheltered spot about half a mile above a lone house called 

 Laguneta. The pack-animals were sent back to Salento, 

 where there was an abundance of pasturage, until they 

 should be required again. 



