Introduction. ix 



highest altitudes and penetrating ahnost to the summit o£ 

 Carstensz Peak, 15,800 ft., the highest point of the Snow 

 Mountains. Mr. Wollaston, Mr. Kloss, and Lieut. Van de 

 Water climbed above the snow-line on to the ice-cap on 

 the 30th of January and the 1st of February, 1913, but 

 on neither occasion were they able to reach the summit 

 some 500 feet above them. Mr. Wollaston says : — "Above 

 6000 ft. the character of the forest begins to change, 

 the trees are of smaller size, and herbaceous plants are 

 more numerous. Above 8000 ft. are many casuarinas, 

 which are replaced higher up by bushy heaths and various 

 flowering shrubs, until at about 11,000 ft. the rocks become 

 so steep as only to support the scantiest vegetation. In the 

 higher regions (above 6000 ft.) animal-life was very scanty. 

 Small Parrots in pairs are seen occasionally, and large flocks 

 of Lories were found feeding on the fruits of the pandanus 

 trees up to 8000 ft. A pair of Pipits {Anthus wollastoni) 

 were seen in the rocky bed of a stream at 9000 ft., and the 

 droppings of a game-bird, probably the strange Anurophasis 

 monortlionyx obtained by Mr. Lorentz on Mt. Wilhelmina, 

 were noticed at 10,300 ft. Beyond that point the only birds 

 seen were a Pigeon (^Gymnopliaps albertisii), a Black Honey- 

 sucker (^Melirrhoplietes fuscus), and a Rock-Thrush. No Birds- 

 of-Prey were seen above 6000 ft. Insects are remarkably 

 scarce, and mammals are very few in the higher regions. A 

 pair of Black Phalangers were caught at 8000 ft. by the 

 natives, who refused to part with them. On the ridges at 

 about 10,000 ft. were seen many tracks of Proechidna, and 

 on the rocks above 13,000 ft. we found droppings of a 

 carnivorous mammal." 



The collection of Birds on this occasion numbered nearly 

 one thousand three hundred specimens, and contained a 

 number of new or very rare species not to be found in any 

 museum in Britain. As was expected, those obtained at the 

 higher camps proved of special interest, and now that the 

 collections have been fully examined, many forms, over- 

 looked at the first inspection, have proved to belong to 

 unknown subspecies or even species. 



