248 Letters, Announcements, &c. 
collection was known to naturalists. When passing some time 
at Chachapoyas in 1860, on my way across the Andes and down 
the Amazons (during which I made an unsuccessful attempt to 
penetrate to the great “elbow ” or bend of the Marajion at 
the Pongo de Manseriche, the first barrier to navigation on 
the great river) , | met with six Indians of the Aguarunas tribe; 
and the chief of the party wore a chaplet adorned with 
the body and the unmistakable crossed and spatula-tipped 
tail of this rare species. Although not aware at the time 
of the great value of the bird, I endeavoured to obtain both 
this chaplet and several other articles of the very scanty 
apparel and adornments worn by these Indians; but on that 
occasion nothing in the shape of knives or even liquor would 
tempt them, and the chance was lost. Subsequently, on con- 
versing with Mr. Gould, he showed me his figure of this bird, 
which I at once recognized ; and I fear he will never forgive 
me for not having obtained that specimen by some means, 
forcible or otherwise. However, I did what I could to atone 
for my over-conscientiousness by sending out drawings of the 
bird and by writing to my friends at Chachapoyas and urging 
them to take all possible steps to procureit. ‘The drawings 
were duly distributed, and much commented on in subsequent 
letters which I received ; but no specimens were ever obtained. 
My impression is (but I am now speaking from memory) that 
Mathews, the botanical collector, who procured this bird in 
1835, met with it during an excursion to an estate named Hi- 
dalgo, which is reached by a rather steep descent into a very 
dark and humid forest-clad gorge ; but there are several such 
in the neighbourhood of Chachapoyas, and Quipachacha may 
well be another of them, or even a locality on the very same 
road. The city of Chachapoyas (it boasts of a cathedral) is 
situated on the Eastern Andes, at about 5000 feet above sea- 
level, and in a temperate climate; but the descents in the direc- 
tion of the river flowing into the Amazons (or Marajion, as it is 
there called) are so exceedingly abrupt that a very much warmer 
temperature and thick forest would easily be reached within 
a distance of three kilometres from the capital. We shall 
doubtless receive further particulars, and probably more spe- 
