Todd-Carriker : Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 33 



slopes until it reaches San Sebastian. The village is situated on a 

 level plateau or plain with mountains on either side. . . .* It has a 

 mixed population of about three hundred people, Indians and Colom- 

 bians. The Indians appear to be more civilized than those living on 

 the other side of the mountains, at San Miguel, etc. They raise 

 vegetables, which they send to Valle de Upar on pack-animals, to be 

 sold in the market. Most of the Colombians are traders, but some are 

 there for their health. The climate while I was there was agreeable, 

 although there were days when it was cold. The building in which I 

 lived and prepared my specimens was known as the ' old church,' which 

 I occupied alone. There was no way to heat the place, and it was 

 roomy, sepulchral, and musty, and full of rats, so that I had to lock up 

 my skins in the collecting chests every night. 



" In addition to my work at San Sebastian, I had a native collect 

 some specimens for me at Templado and El Mamon, in the mountains. 

 He found birds not only scarce, but also very shy. He reported the 

 country in that neighborhood to be covered with grass, but with low 

 woods along the mountain streams. Had my trip been earlier in the 

 season, I would have endeavored to work the high snow-covered moun- 

 tains above Templado, but with the birds in poor plumage and moult- 

 ing, I decided not to undertake it. Well, about the middle of August, 

 my work here being completed, I packed my collections, and engaging 

 an outfit of pack-mules, bid my friends farewell, and started on the 

 long return journey to the coast, reaching Rio Hacha two weeks later, 

 where I shipped my collections to the United States, following myself 

 some weeks later, after making an exciting journey through the 

 Goajira Peninsula, on which, however, birds were not the object." 



Mr. Brown surely deserves great credit for his work in the Sierra 

 Nevada, as it was done at the time when that region was little known 

 and not easy of access, being inhabited almost solely by Indians, who 

 were, however, and still are, very honest and peaceably inclined. The 

 total number of specimens of birds collected by Mr. Brown on his 

 entire trip was between twenty-six and twenty-seven hundred, all of 

 unusually high grade. Through the generosity of Mr. Bangs many 

 of these skins found their way into the collections of other individuals 

 and institutions, the U. S. National Museum receiving a goodly share. 

 Unfortunately not all the specimens were cataloged before this was 



8 For matter here elided see under List of Localities, page 126. 



