358 PHELPS, Birds observed tn Venezuela. ae 
not comprised in any of the foregoing divisions. This separation 
into districts was chiefly based on collections made by Mr. A. 
Goering! 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, 
1On 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. 
2An Annotated List of Birds observed on the Island of Margarita, and at 
Guanta and Laguayra, Venezuela. With critical notes and descriptions of 
new species by Charles W. Richmond. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIII, pp. 
649-685, Pl. XXXIII. 
