THE OOLOGIST 



205 



ously carved boulders. Two small 

 rivers were forded late in the morn- 

 ing. First it was up in the mountains, 

 then down In cool canons filled with 

 mosses, luxurious plants and dew- 

 drenched ferns. In two instances I 

 passed places where severe land slides 

 from above had nearly obliterated the 

 trail and one was marked by a sinister 

 little cross, where some poor wander- 

 er had been pushed over to his death 

 in the valley below. 



I noted the pale species of Planest- 

 icus as seen at Consuelo and numbers 

 of big blue Morpho butterflies gave 

 me the impression that I was at an 

 altitude around 5000 feet. At 11 a. m. 

 I had some breakfast at a little hut 

 by the trail and here I noticed many 

 trains of leaf-cutting ants. They were 

 traveling in great numbers across the 

 trail and generations of their kind had 

 worn a path as far as the eye could 

 reach, as well marked as the trail 

 which I had been following. These 

 ants cut bits of leaves and grass many 

 times their own size and carry them 

 underground, where they are rotted 

 for the mould which they grow and 

 which forms the insects' main diet. 



Many wild begonias and closed 

 gentians were growing along the road. 

 The birds noticed were, white-throated 

 swifts, warblers and many tropical 

 forms, owing to the change in the 

 vegetation, which by noon, was regu- 

 lar humid forest. 



In the afternoon I saw two yellow 

 wood rats fighting in the middle of the 

 trail. I rode within a few inches of 

 them but they continued their scrap 

 quite undisturbed. At 2:30 I came in 

 sight of the Llanos, far below to the 

 east. The Llanos are the plains whicli 

 reach from the eastern base of the 

 Andes clear to the upper drainage of 

 the Orinoco River. When one sights 

 them, the mountains are behind, and 

 one realizes how far, far away is home 



and the civilization that we know so 

 well. 



An hour later I reached Buena Vis- 

 ta, where I found O'Connell working 

 a trap line at 4000 feet. I did not want 

 to stay here however, so started out 

 once more. The trail descended 

 rapidly now and soon I was in a hot 

 climate like the valley of the Magda- 

 lena. Thousands of locusts were sing- 

 ing in the tall trees along the road 

 and various birds of the lower alti- 

 tudes were abundant. In an hour I 

 sighted the town of Villavicencio 

 with its mud and thatched huts and a 

 little later I rode right into the room 

 where Cherrie, Ring and all the gang 

 were skinning the morning bag of 

 birds. A great reunion followed and 

 I was certainly overjoyed to be with 

 them again. That evening I distrib- 

 uted my collection of canned goods to 

 me by the American and British 

 Ministers before leaving Bogota. A 

 feast followed, then as a final surprise, 

 I brought out my saddle bag containing 

 twenty-five letters from home. 

 To be continued) 



New Bird Books 



We cannot recommend too highly 

 special publications, advertisements 

 that appear in this issue of the Oolo- 

 gist. 



"The Birds and Mammals of Amer- 

 ica" is certainly one of the best publi- 

 cations of its kind that has ever come 

 under the observation of the Editor. 

 It is illustrated so profusely with re- 

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 plates that practically all species des- 

 cribed are shown. The range of the 

 bird and its breeding home is given 

 as well as a technical description, fol- 

 lowed by copious popular notes de- 

 scriptive of the species under consid- 

 eration. This is a book that should be 

 in the library of every bird lover. 



"Audubon, the Naturalist," a Hist- 



