Editorial 



379 



25irb=1Lore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Contributing Editor, MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XVIII Published December 1.1916 No. 6 



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Price in the United States. Canada and Mexico, twenty cents 

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COPYRIGHTED, 1916, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush Is Worth Two in the Hand 



Continuing our outline of the work of 

 the American Museum's expedition in 

 South America (See the two preceding 

 numbers of Bird-Lore), after completing 

 our reconnaissance in the Urubamba Val- 

 ley of Peru, we were resident for a short 

 time at Tirapata, on the 'puna' or table- 

 land of that country, about forty miles 

 north of Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 

 12,500 feet. The country is treeless, in- 

 deed without a vestige of arborescent 

 vegetation; nevertheless, Passeres, which 

 here could not very appropriately be 

 called 'perching birds,' were abundant. 



Sparrows and Pipits, for example, we 

 know are terrestrial, but we do not think 

 of Flycatchers as living on and near the 

 ground, and, stranger still, we should not 

 expect to find Woodpeckers where there 

 are no woods. 



However, several species of Flycatchers 

 were common at Tirapata and a Flicker 

 was one of the most characteristic birds of 

 the region. While differing in color from 

 both our North American Flickers, the 

 Peruvian bird resembles them in general 

 pattern, and is unmistakably a true mem- 

 ber of the genus Colaptes. It has the 

 white rump and the bounding flight of our 

 species, but its notes would not be recog- 

 nized as those of a Flicker, and it nests, 

 like a Kingfisher, in holes in banks. 



The presence of a Flicker in South 

 America is one of the thousand and more 

 problems which puzzle the brains of the 

 zoological geographer. The genus is not 



found north of Peru nor south of (luate- 

 mala. Why it should be nesting in the 

 intervening region, who can say? But we 

 may be sure that a Woodpecker was never 

 evolved in a treeless region, and hence we 

 conclude that Colaptes is a comparatively 

 recent arrival in the Andean tableland. 



Certain lagoons near Tirapata were 

 thronged with water-fowl of many species. 

 There were Ducks, Geese, Coots, (lallinu- 

 les and Grebes, and, more surprising even 

 than the occurrence of Flickers, was the 

 presence of large numbers of Flamingoes. 

 We are so accustomed to think of these 

 birds as inhabitants of the tropics that it 

 is difficult to believe they are permanent 

 residents of the upper Temperate Zone 

 where frost, snow and ice are found in 

 half the months of the year. 



Leaving Tirapata, the expedition visited 

 La Paz, Bolivia to establish relations with 

 the authorities of the national museum of 

 that city. From this point Mr. Cherrie 

 went directly to Buenos Aires and thence 

 ascended the Paraguay River to continue 

 the work begun when he was a member 

 of the Roosevelt Expedition, while the 

 writer returned to the Pacific Coast at 

 Arica and sailed from this point to Val- 

 paraiso. While not so abundant off the 

 coast of Chile as off the Coast of Peru, 

 birds were seen in great numbers between 

 Arica and Valparaiso harbor, where a 

 small Penguin was one of the most com- 

 mon species. The Museums of Santiago, 

 Mendoza, Buenos Aires- and Rio Janeiro 

 all were found to contain much valuable 

 material, and through the kind assistance 

 of officers of these institutions opportuni- 

 ties were given to study, not only the spe- 

 cimens under their charge, but living 

 birds in the surrounding country. 



The most productive trip of this kind 

 was made to the Organ Mountains west 

 .of Rio Janeiro, where remains were found 

 of the Subtropical fauna, which once, no 

 doubt, was highly developed in this now 

 much-eroded mountain system. 



In returning to the United States, two 

 weeks were passed in Barbados, and some 

 interesting data secured concerning the 

 migration of shorebirds. 



