1084 



MR. C. E. HELLMAYR ON THE 



53. A C'Ontribution to the Ornitliology of Western (/olouibia. 

 By C. E. Hellmavr, Curator, Division of Birds^ 

 Zoological Museum^ Munich *. 



[Received April 26, 1911 ; Read June 1:3,, 1911.] 



Pngc 



I. Introduction 1084 



1 1. Account of Mr. M. G. Palmer's localities 1085 



III. Account of the Species 1086 



IV. Conclusions 1210 



I, IXTEODUCTION. 



The following account is principally based on a collection of 

 birds made by Mr. Mervyn G. Palmer, one of Mr, W, F. H. 

 Rosenberg's field collectors, in the second half of 1908 and in 

 1909. Though numbering hardly 700 specimens, the set is of 

 considerable interest, containing a large percentage of rare species 

 as well as several novelties which I have already described, partly 

 in the 'Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club/ partly in the 

 ' Revue Frangaise d'Ornithologie.' 



The district of Western Colombia in which Mr. Palmer has been 

 woi'king had not been visited by many naturalists before, and, 

 putting aside some scatteied notices in scientific periodicals, few 

 accounts have been published about the birds of this little-known 

 region. Our first knowledge is due to the exertions of the cele- 

 brated French traveller, Ad. Delattre, who, prior to 1846, made 

 considerable collections in the vicinity of Buenaventura (Choco 

 Bay), in the Western Cordillera at Juntas, Cali, etc., in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Popayan, notably on the Purace, as well as at Paste, 

 near the Ecuadorian frontier. The new species of Humming- 

 Birds discovered on this trip were made known by Delattre and 

 Bourcier in the ' Revue Zoologique,' vol. ix., 1846, pp. 305-312, 

 while a number of birds belonging to other families aie discussed by 

 M. de Lafresnaye in the same journal, vol. x., 1847, pp. 67-79. 

 The next important contribution is Cassin's Catalogue of the Birds 

 collected by Lieut. N. Michler's expedition to the Rivers Truando 

 and Atrato, just south of Darien, published in the ' Proceedings of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ' for the vear 

 1860, pp. 132^144, 188-197. This Avas followed by Sclater^and 

 Salvin's account of the late T. K. Salmon's extensive collections 

 from the State of Antioquia, in the P.Z. S. 1879, pp. 486-550, 

 wherein 468 species are dealt with. In 1894, Mr. W. F. H. Rosen- 

 herg visited the Rio Dagua, working chiefly at Juntas and Cali, in 

 the Western Cordillera. His birds went to the late Adolphe 

 Boucard, who published a list of the Humming-Birds in 'The 



* Comnuuiicatcd hy Dr. V. L. SlLAtee. F.R.S., F.Z.S. 



