THE OOLOGIST 



ed from its hole. For a second I felt 

 all gone inside but this was only mo- 

 mentary, for the beast proved to be 

 nothing but an Armadillo, more fright- 

 ened than I! Much relieved I found 

 my Manacus and retreated, but since 

 that time it has occcured to me what 

 a wonderful protection for this animal 

 lies in its triangular, scaled head and 

 its ability to hiss like a large snake. 



After getting all the birds I could 

 handle during the day, I turned my 

 attention to the interesting wasps of 

 the region. I found two large bell- 

 shaped nests of paper and also a col- 

 ony of tiny social bees that build a 

 tubular mud entrance to their nest 

 which consists of a hole in a tree or 

 old stump. 



There were many beautiful flowers 

 growing along the river banks, one in 

 particular, a huge vermillion ball with 

 spine-like stemens, resembling a large 

 pin cushion stuck full of yellow-head- 

 ed hat pins. It was growing parasiti- 

 cally some ten feet up in the branches 

 of a tree. 



I saw several Eastern U. S. birds, 

 chiefly warblers together with one or 

 two Rose-breasted grosbeaks, already 

 in full summer plumage. 



On the way home I caught sight of 

 a fine big jaguar and Ring reported 

 an ocelot and brought in a capauchin 

 monkey and several specimens of 

 Hoatzins. Spent the afternoon skin- 

 ning and preparing our birds and all 

 turned in early. 



March 12th. This morning I went 

 out about six, taking a southerly di- 

 rection instead of going east as yes- 

 terday. First I followed a small creek 

 for an hour, taking nothing except 

 one Phathornis humming bird. From 

 here I went through a comparatively 

 level open bit of land, bordered by 

 small growth, and inhabited by a 

 species of Toucan, new to the ex- 

 pedition, having a white eye and red 



rump, and closely related to the 

 species taken in the Magdalena val- 

 ley. A mile further on I struck a 

 heavy tropical forest with tangled 

 undergrowth so thick that my aux 

 shells would not take affect. On the 

 way back towards the town, an open 

 space bordered by huge trees, yield- 

 ed one of the largest species of jay 

 that I have ever seen, together with 

 a fine pair of green Jacamas, a bucko, 

 Mourning warbler and a fine little 

 male Picumnus, a tiny woodpecker. 

 The morning was now well along, so 

 I retraced my steps to our hut to 

 skin my specimens. 



About five in the afternoon, Cherrie 

 and I went out from the town to the 

 river Parado, a fine L'ttle stream com- 

 ing down from the mountains. We 

 walked up for about a quarter of a 

 mile and here we found a little pool 

 just big enough to hold us both. We 

 were soon sitting up to our necks in 

 the fine cold mountain water with a 

 waterfall washing our backs. The 

 bottom of the pool was lined with 

 clean white pebbles. Here we had 

 our first real South American bath 

 and believe me, we needed it! We 

 stayed in about half an hour with a 

 current in back just strong enough to 

 lean against. When we returned to 

 the town, the other fellows had just 

 finished skinning. They were hot 

 and tired, and the sight of Cherrie 

 and me fresh from that bath made a 

 very envious bunch of them. 



After a rough-house dinner, it was 

 decided that Chapman and I should 

 leave the next day for Buenavista, 

 just up the hills behind the town. We 

 will remain there until the 16th, when 

 the others will join us and all will re- 

 turn to Bogota to get supplies.* and 

 then set out in another direction. 



Our house here has a sign over the 

 door which reads "Twentieth Cen- 

 tury." It is however, not as up to 



