450 



Mr. Fraser's first collecting-place was Cuenca, the capital city of 

 the province of the same name, situated on a branch of the Rio Mat- 

 tadero, and on the eastern slope of the great watershed, at an eleva- 

 tion of about 8200 feet above the sea-level, Birds here were very 

 scarce, and during a residence of parts of October and November in 

 1857 and March, April, and May of the present year only twenty- 

 seven species were procured, namely — 



• Hypotriorchis columbarivs. Sayornis cineracea. 



Otus crassirostris. Serpophaga cinerea. 



Turdus gigas. Elcenia, sp. 



chiguanco. Petrochelidon cyanolevca. 



swainsoni. Petasophora iolata. 



Conirostrum fraseri, sp. nov. Calothorax fannire. 



Tanagra darwini. Lesbia gracilis. 



Pheucticus chrysogaster. amaryllis. 



Zonotrichia pi/eafa. Zenaida hypolenca. 



Phrygihis ocularis, sp. nov. Columbula cruziana. 



Catamenia analoides. Glottis melanoleuca. 



Chrysomitris, sp. Tringa 1 



Sycalis, sp. Tringoides maadarius. 

 Sturnella bellicosa. 



Of these eight or nine, such as Zonotrichia pileata, Petrochelidon 

 cyanoleuca, Glottis melanoleuca, &c. are birds of wide distribution ; 

 Tardus gigas, Lesbia amaryllis, and Chrysomitris spinescens are New 

 Granadian forms, occurring in collections from Bogota ; but the re- 

 mainder may be pronounced to be mostly Peruvian, having been 

 found, where their localities are known, in the Andes of that re- 

 public. Two only, a Conirostrum and a little finch of the peculiar 

 S. American genus Phrygilus, appear to me to be undescribed. 

 It may be remarked that this spot being probably in what Tschudi 

 calls the " eastern Sierra region," not a single bird of the great S. 

 American families Formica riidce, Cotingidce, or Anabatidce occurs, 

 and only one Tanager {Tanagra darwini) found by Tschudi in the 

 western maritime region of Peru. 



At Gualaquiza and Zamora, both situated much lower down in the 

 eastern wood-region on different branches of the Rio S. Iago, Mr. 

 Fraser passed the months of December, January, and February. 

 Here the ornithology is totally different, only four of the species 

 met with at Cuenca occurring again, and members of all the three 

 typical families above mentioned being found. Of the sixty-two 

 species obtained here, though there are several interesting birds 

 amongst them, the generality are well known and of rather wide dis- 

 tribution, occurring either in collections from JBogota or from the 

 Upper Amazon. Three only I can at present venture to characterize 

 as unnamed ; but there are several others belonging to the difficult 

 group Tyrannidee, which may ultimately prove to be new. 



1. Hypotriorchis cojajmbarius (Linn.) S • 



Cuenca, November 1857. The most southern locality yet re- 



