ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY^ 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the Neiv York Zoological Society 



Vol. XVII 



JULY, 1914. 



Number 1 



THE SOCIETVS EXPEDITIOX TO COSTA RICA 



Bi/ Lee S. Chandall, 

 Asxistaiit Curator of Birds. 



ON MARCH 21,1911., the writer, acconi- 

 jianied by T. Donald Carter, a student 

 at the Zoological Park, left for Costa 

 Rica, for the purpose of securing living crea- 

 tures for the collections of the Zoological So- 

 ciety. Six weeks were spent in the field, the 

 total result being more than 300 living speci- 

 mens, including mammals, birds, reptiles, ba- 

 trachians, fishes and insects, a great majority 

 of whicii had not previously been exhibited 

 here. 



The round trip was made in the L'nited 

 Fruit Company's steamer "Calamares." The 

 Company's representatives were courteous and 

 interested throughout, and without their co-op- 

 eration, the success of the expedition would 

 have become a much more difficult matter. 



The southward journey was uneventful. Port 

 Linion being reached on March 30. In spite 

 of the combined efforts of the Fruit Company's 

 agent and ourselves, it was found to be quite 

 impossible, except by the consent of high 

 officials, to enter our bulky equipment without 

 the payment of heavy duty and wharfage 

 charges, so that a journey to San Jose, the 

 capital, became imperative. 



There is but one first-class train daily from 

 Limon to San Jose, leaving the coast city at 

 10 A. M. The early part of the ride is along 

 the sea-coast, exhibiting the most luxuriant 

 tyjie of tropical vegetation. Once above Siquir- 

 res, however, the train follows the course of 

 the Reventazon River, and as it mounts slowly 

 upward, the scene is one of truly marvelous 

 beauty. The slopes of the Caribbean water-shed 



are very densely forested, most of the trees 

 being hard-wood. This region is very sparse- 

 ly inhabited, excejjt in the neighborhood of the 

 larger towns. Several extinct volcanoes are 

 seen — Turrialba, more than 1 1 ,000 feet in 

 height, and Irazu, of somewhat lower altitude, 

 on the Caribbean side, and Barba and Poas 

 after the continental divide has been ])assed. 

 As the higher altitudes are reached, signs of a 

 much more numerous population become evident, 

 and once on the plateau, almost all of the land, 

 with the exception of the higher slopes, is seen 

 to be under cultivation. 



San Jose, which is a delightful city, is 

 reached at about 4:30 p. m. Here, after a de- 

 lay of two or three days, arrangements were 

 finally completed for the free entry of our lug- 

 gage. Unfortunately, none of the very able 

 local ornithologists was to be found, so, as no 

 reliable advice was to be had, the original plan 

 was adhered to, and Guapiles, a village at the 

 terminus of a branch railroad about 59 miles 

 from Limon, was chosen as a collecting point. 



Several days passed before active work could 

 be commenced, as freight is carried two days a 

 week only, and we could do nothing without 

 our apparatus. Comfortable quarters in a pass- 

 able little "hotel" were secured, and through 

 the kindness of the Fruit Comjiany, we were 

 jirovided with a shed for the housing of our 

 collection. 



Guapiles has an elevation of about 800 feet, 

 being on the northern slope of Turrialba. It 

 once was surrounded by extensive banana plan- 

 tations, but as the fruit was attacked by a mys- 



