330 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



hovels where there was also a corral for the mules, and pro- 

 ceeded to work along the banks of the Rio Chilon, which is 

 a small tributary of the Rio Mizque. The stream is rapid 

 and shallow, and flows over a rock-strewn bed. Numbers 

 of fish, including rays, were plainly visible through the clear 

 water. The majority of the birds inhabiting the thorny 

 jungle that grows on both sides of the watercourse, were 

 still of the arid upland type; but there was a further en- 

 croachment of a foreign fauna, and the brown-shouldered 

 orioles, coral-billed tinamou, and red-tailed parrakeets left 

 no doubts in our minds of the origin of their distribution. 

 They were the advance ranks of a stream of bird-life flow- 

 ing up the valley of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, 

 where conditions are at least somewhat similar to those 

 obtaining in the chaco country to the east, which is their 

 normal habitat. 



Apparently the red-tailed parrakeets were mating. Large 

 groups sat on the branches of some stunted tree, preening 

 one another's plumage, and emitting queer ani-like wails. 

 If one observed closely, however, it could be seen that the 

 flocks were always broken up into pairs that were snuggled 

 up as closely together as possible. 



Comarapa, the next station, is very similar to Chilon, 

 but somewhat larger. The town is built near the base of 

 a high range that towers to the east. A stream of small 

 size flows past the settlement ; it is known as the Rio Coma- 

 rapa, and is thought to be the headwater of the Ichilo and 

 Mamore. The Indians said that the river flows through 

 a deep cleft in the mountains, impossible to follow or navi- 

 gate; also that an exploration-party of Germans once 

 crossed the range with the object of locating the Ichilo on 

 the other side, but after spending several months in the 

 wilderness they returned without having found the river. 

 There was at one time a well-known trail across the moun- 

 tains, over which war-parties of Yuracare Indians crossed 

 to attack the settlers, and later they came to work in the 

 pepper-fields; but the location of this passageway doubt- 



