228 THE CONDOR Vol. X 



used to conditions in northern climes. This locality was remarkable for its num- 

 ber of large and handsome hawks. The Audubon Caracara and the Wood Ibis 

 were welcome representatives of our own bird-life. 



At Maracay we were objects of great interest to the inhabitants. A small army 

 of boys and youths followed us into the fields each morning. They made success- 

 ful collecting quite impossible, and how to get rid of them was a great problem. 

 Simple forbearance was the main key to this problem's solution. By keeping up a 

 brisk pace and purposely selecting cactus-grown and thorny spots — very trying to 

 bare feet — we found the number constantly diminishing until but two or three 

 hardy spirits still remained. These about balanced the account by retrieving birds 

 shot, or pointing out others in the trees. These native lads showed a wholesome 

 fear of our guns, and when we affected indifference as to their whereabouts, when 

 we took aim, the timid ones gradually gave up the chase. While at work in a stone- 

 walled room, with its iron-barred windows opening on the street, a crowd of curi- 

 ous faces always looked in on us, often hanging to the bars to get a better view, 

 and in consequence shutting out much-needed light. Sometimes the room was al- 

 most filled with idle onlookers, but this proved not to be an unmixed evil; for sev- 

 eral of our visitors were ones who proved of the greatest help to us. The most dis- 

 tinguished of these visitors was no less a personage than Senor Andrade, Castro's 

 predecessor as president of Venezuela. He was a charming man — a perfect Castil- 

 lian in manners and dignity. He readily offered to grasp our bloody hands as we 

 rose from our taxidermy work to greet him. He showed a great interest in our 

 work and cordially asked us to call upon him in his home at Caracas. 



A very interesting character and one who later greatly aided us in our work, 

 was a man from Texas, whose many years in Venezuela had been full of adventure. 

 Being a mechanic by trade, he had designed a steel steamboat, suitable for the 

 shallow waters of lyake Valencia. This boat had been constructed in Germany, 

 shipped in parts to Venezuela and erected upon the lake by this ingenious and in- 

 domitable Yankee. He was known variously as "Captain" or "King of the lyake"; 

 and his dominion was one of fact, for the poverty-stricken natives about the shores 

 had no other practicable means of getting their scanty crops of coffee and bananas 

 to the railroad. Different from what one might expect, this man was in no sense 

 a tyrant, but was held in great esteem by the natives. Our common nationality 

 made us friends with this man at once, and we gladly accepted his invitation to ac- 

 company him on his boat. A few days later I moved to Cabrera, a railroad station 

 on the shore of the lake, where the Captain's steamer had its dock. 



Dr. Dearborn in the meantime accepted the invitation of another of our visitors 

 — an extremely pleasant gentleman — and in his company made a journey to this 

 gentleman's estate high up in the mountains. Here were found a trogon and other 

 birds not met at the altitude of the Valencia plains. Later Dr. Dearborn came to 

 Lake Valencia. This lake is one of the scenic spots of Venezuela. Humboldt on 

 his famous South American travels visited it, and his accounts fire one's imagina- 

 tion even now. Its placid, clear waters are surrounded b}^ towering volcanic peaks, 

 whose rugged, dark red slopes pitch directly into the lake. The shores are lined 

 with rushes and occasional open forests of mimosa-like trees. Twenty-two hilly 

 islands dot the lake's surface; twenty-two streams flow into it (tho not one flows 

 out of it) and twenty-two kilometers is the length of the lake. Its area is sixty- 

 six square miles and its altitude is 1200 feet. The lake abounds in mud flats and 

 upon them and in the shallow water stand countless numbers of several varieties of 

 herons, black-necked stilts and other waders; coots, ducks and grebes dot its sur- 

 face. Among the rushes are seen tiny rails as well as larger ones. Immense flocks 



