Volume 1. Number 18. 



NOTES ON COSTA RICAN BIRDS 



By lee S. CRANDALL, 



Assistant Curator of Birds. 



Part I. — Introduction. 



After a nine days' journey on the United Fruit Company's 

 steamer "Calamares," the writer, accompanied by T. Donald 

 Carter as assistant, arrived at Port Limon, Costa Rica, on March 

 30, 1914. Our object was the gathering of living specimens 

 for the collections of the New York Zoological Society, and 

 when, after a stay of six weeks, we re-embarked on the "Cala- 

 mares" with something over three hundred creatures, embracing 

 all of the vertebrate classes, in our care, we felt that our efforts 

 had not been in vain. 



There was some delay in entering our luggage and it was 

 only after a wait of several days, entailing a trip to the lovely 

 capital city, San Jose, that this was finally accomplished. We 

 were then free to repair to our proposed collecting ground, in 

 the vicinity of Guapiles, a small village at the terminus of the 

 Old Line Railroad, fifty-nine miles northwest of Port Limon. 

 Here we found reasonably comfortable quarters in a small hotel 

 conducted in connection with the general store. 



The representatives of the United Fruit Company were 

 uniformly courteous, and without their co-operation, the work 

 would have been very difficult indeed. My thanks are due espe- 

 cially to Mr. W. E. Mullins, General Manager, Mr. Wilson of 

 Guapiles, and Mr. Doswell of Port Limon. I am grateful also 

 to Senor Juan Quesada, Senor Rafael Tristan and Mr. W. F. 

 Milkevitch, of Kiew, Russia, all of whom contributed much to 

 the success of the expedition. 



Part IL — Ecological Conditions. 



Guapiles lies on the northern slope of the Volcan Turrialba, 

 at an elevation of about eight hundred feet. Rainfall is of 

 almost daily occurrence throughout the year, the seasons not 



