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THE OOLOGIST 



VOLUME 34 



With this issue of the Oologist, we 

 complete Volume 34. While it has not 

 been all that we have wished it, yer 

 we believe, those who have been read- 

 ers of this journal will agree with us 

 that it has shown a substantial im- 

 provement over preceding volumes. It 

 is our purpose that each succeeding 

 volume of the Oologist shall be bettor 

 than the one preceding it. This grad- 

 ual betterment can be attained only 

 with the assistance of our friends who 

 are interested in the success of our 

 little publication. 



We owe a great debt of gratitude to 

 those who have stood so loyally by us 

 and by the Oologist in years past and 

 it is more than a pleasure to acknowl- 

 edge the same, but we desire to do 

 more and pray a continuance of this 

 support. No publication of this char- 

 acter, which is not carried on for 

 financial gain and which circulates 

 among a limited and selected clientele 

 can succeed without the earnest per- 

 sonal support and interest of its 

 friends. 



It will in the future be the policy of 

 the Oologist to further the interest of 

 scientific oology and ornithology in 

 America and to expose fraud whenever 

 it is brought to our notice and to in 

 all other things reserve the best in- 

 terest for whom it is published. W"e 

 desire specially that every collector 

 and subscriber should regard this little 

 publication as at least in part his own 

 and to be and feel at all times free to 

 favor us with suggestions regarding 

 the same. 



We expect to continue the publica- 

 tion of the Oologist during the en- 

 suing year along the same lines that it 

 has been published in the past. Of 

 course, this cannot be done and keep 

 it up to its present standard without 

 an effort on the part of its friends, not 

 only to furnish copy, but also to fur- 



nish subscribers and advertisers. We 

 have repeatedly appealed to the read- 

 ers of the Oologist who had its wel- 

 fare at heart to each one of them se- 

 cure at least one other individual sub- 

 scriber for an extra copy to be sent 

 to a friend. If you will do this in the 

 year of 1918 you will have a bigger 

 and better Oologist. 



Hf^'Better renew your subscription 

 and provide for this extra subscription 

 now while it is fresh in your mind. 



We wish you all a Merry Christmas 

 and Happy New Year. 



The Editor. 



Bird Collecting In Eastern Colombia. 



Paul G. Howes. 



VI. 



March 8th. I started this morning 

 at 9 a. m., from the hotel, amid a crowd 

 of curious onlookers, and much specu- 

 lation as to my purpose. Leaving a 

 city with a population as large as 

 Bogota, roughly dressed and thorough- 

 ly armed might cause interest even in 

 our own country, yet I was allowed to 

 proceed through the streets out into 

 the country, unquestioned even by the 

 police. Much relieved to be away 

 from Bogota I took my first long 

 breath in many a day. 



The trail led steadily upward 

 through paramo growth of century 

 plants and low bushes resembling 

 mountain laurel. Quantities of deep 

 red, and white foxglove grew in among 

 the other vegetation together with 

 many other flowering plants that I did 

 not recognize. 



At 11 a. m. the cloud forest was 

 entered and here the trees and rocks 

 were covered with beautiful mosses 

 and lichens of every description. As 

 I neared the pass over the first ridge 

 at 10,700 feet, around one o'clock, 

 fierce winds sprang up and it became 

 almost impossible to see for the clouds 

 which swept the crest. The tempera- 



