ciiArrKK VII 



IJIKI) i,ll'E OF JLMrrUA DISTRICT 



Any attem])t at thoroii<>li iiionofrra])liic' treatment of 

 the birds of Bai-tiea distriet after only a single season's ol)- 

 servation is of eourse inii)ossil)le. Our sjieeies catalo<iues 

 show hundreds of more or less related facts ; in one case we 

 have learned of the nest buildino- aiid incubation, in anotlier 

 of the gradual change of ])luinage from nestling to adult. 

 But, reserving these for future consideration, there is still 

 possible a review of the whole field, a bird's-eye-view which 

 is interesting, and in some respects quite significant. From 

 this point of view I offer this account of bird life as observed 

 in the vicinity of Bartica, British Guiana. 



In the space of five months, from jNIarch on through 

 July, within a rectangle of clearing and jungle measuring- 

 two miles by one-half mile we became acquainted with two 

 hundred and eighty-one species of birds. In the same gen 

 eral area of jungle, Whitely, some years ago, collected two 

 hundred and fifty-four forms. The two lists yield for this 

 limited district, a total of three hundred and fifty-one spe- 

 cies. This is about one-half (4.5 per cent.) of the birds re- 

 corded from the whole colony of British Guiana, consider- 

 ing these as numbering seven hundred and fifty-two, as given 

 in the latest list of South iVmerican species. ' 



If I compare my observations of bird life day after day 

 in the tropics with the memory of corresponding study in 

 our northern woods and fields, I realize at once that both 

 daily and in the aggregate, a greater number of species and 

 individuals were observed in the tropical field of work. 

 There were curious cross resemblances and differences in the 

 two places — these tropical jungles and the woods of New 



^ A list of the Birds of South America, Bradbourne and Chubb, London, 1912. 



