CARTAGO TO RUIZ AND SANTA ISABEL 51 



usually attractive for a week's collecting, owing to the 

 number of birds and particularly of squirrels seen from the 

 trail. This, however, proved to be the one place in all 

 Colombia where we were not welcome, and in this regard 

 it is imique in my two years' experience in that country. 



After leaving the Quindio trail we followed a narrow path 

 through fields and forest for nearly a mile. It led to a 

 neat, new cottage surrounded by pastiu-es in which there 

 were cattle and horses. The owner and his wife, middle- 

 aged Colombians of the mestizo class, but of better appear- 

 ance than the average, did not seem overjoyed to see us; 

 they had no room, they said, for strangers. Explanations 

 and the display of credentials bearing flaring, important- 

 looking seals were of no avail; the people did not care to 

 have the drowsy tenor of their ways disturbed by a couple 

 of gringos. The region, however, was too alluring to fore- 

 go, so we camped beside the house and took possession of 

 the veranda for sleeping-quarters. There we remained a 

 week, much to the displeasure of our unwilling hosts. 



We had supposed that the presence of a wheat-field sur- 

 rounded by primeval forest had led to an increase in the 

 number of small mammals indigenous to the region, but 

 this assumption proved right in so far as squirrels only were 

 concerned. A granary had been built in the centre of the 

 clearing, which was of considerable extent; bundles of grain 

 were piled in it from floor to roof. Squirrels of three spe- 

 cies came from the woods, and ensconcing themselves in 

 the structure feasted on the wheat. They ran the entire 

 distance between the forest and the house on the ground, 

 taking advantage, however, of any logs or branches that 

 littered the place. They were especially plentiful in the 

 early morning and just before sundown. If one crept cau- 

 tiously to the border of the field he was sure to see dark 

 little forms scamper over the ground and disappear in the 

 storehouse. The animals were very tame at first and did 

 not leave their shelter until one was but a few yards away; 

 then they appeared on all sides and ran quickly to the pro- 



