THE OOLOGIST 



49 



ing specimen of Colombian Indian 

 life. 



Late this afternoon Cherrie, Ring 

 and I left El Roble for El Pinon up 

 near the pass, where we arrived on 

 our mules two hours later. The alti- 

 tude of El Pinon, our last station be- 

 fore turning homeward, is 9550 feet. 

 There is a beautiful view over the val- 

 ley, clear to the llanos below Fusuga- 

 suga. The house is quite comfortable, 

 with good food and native liquor to 

 drink, but the atmosphere is rare, very- 

 damp and all of us are feeling the 

 difference, after the lower altitudes. 



April 5. It did not prove very rich 

 here in bird life, contrary to our ex- 

 pectations. Ring and I went out to- 

 gether and after several hours work 

 in very heavy brush and tangles re- 

 turned with eight birds between us. It 

 is heavy going everywhere and almost 

 impossible to find your birds when 

 they are down. This noon the rest of 

 the crowd arrived. Towards evening 

 Ring and I went out in the pasture be- 

 hind the house and succeeded in tak- 

 ing four specimens of a species of 

 swallow new to the expedition. I al- 

 so found one of their nests in a hole 

 in the thatched roof of the house. It 

 was composed of grasses and lined 

 with feathers and contained six white 

 eggs which were fresh. One of the 

 birds which I shot was a female with 

 an egg in the oviduct. 



April 6th. Ring and I left El Pinon 

 this morning for Bogota. We collect- 

 ed all along the way, betwen El Pinon 

 and Sibate and secured about fifteen 

 birds. I took a new species of lesbia 

 and Ring took two which were also 

 new to us. I found a nest of the little 

 copper-tailed hummer containing one 

 fresh egg. The nest was of moss and 

 other soft material, placed in the old 

 dead roots overhanging the bank of 

 the Sibate wagon trail. The bird was 



still building although one egg had 

 been layed. 



We reached Sibate thoroughly soak- 

 ed by a heavy rain which started 

 shortly before we came in sight of the 

 town. We found that there would be 

 no train for Bogota under four hours 

 so we made friends with a number of 

 Colombians at the Sibate 'Hotel' who 

 proved to be good enough company. 

 They introduced us to several of their 

 Senoritas, one of whom went on the 

 train with iis to Bogota. 



The packs, and other members or 

 the expedition did not arrive as 

 scheduled, so we had to go about in 

 our filthy field rigs until Tuesday 

 morning much to the interest of the 

 Bogota swells. 



April 10th. We left Bogota this 

 morning by train at 7:30 arriving at 

 Facatativa at nine. Here we changed 

 to the Giradot line which runs down 

 through the mountains to the station 

 of that name, where we arrived at 6 

 P. M. On the way we passed through 

 Sipicon, Anolaima, and San Jaocuin. 

 It was a very interesting ride from 

 high in the Andes to the river level. 

 The railroad winds in and out among 

 the hills and at times one can see the 

 locomotive and the last car almost 

 opposite one another. When we left 

 we were none too warm but upon 

 reaching Giradot all were sweating 

 profusely. 



April 11th. We left Giradot about 

 6 A. M. on the river steamer and after 

 an interesting five hour sail arrived 

 at the town of Bel Tran. Here one 

 takes another little railroad for Honda 

 once more. It is a beautiful ride 

 through cattle filled plains, curiously 

 formed hills and valleys. On arriving 

 at Honda we received the alarming 

 news that Bubonic plague had broken 

 out at Santa Marta where our ship 

 for the United States was to come 

 from. We telegraphed at once for 



