Todd-Careiker; Birds of Santa Marta Region, Colombia. 67 



Littoral, or Lower Tropical. — The Littoral is chara(Cterized by the 

 great diversity of habitat within its limits, each of which has its 

 peculiar species of birds. (There are some forms, however, which 

 are present in nearly all situations.) There are the arid plains of the 

 Goajira Peninsula, the semi-arid woodland and scrub of the northwest 

 and south slopes of the mountains, the savannas of the Rio Cesar 

 Valley, the endless lagoons and mangrove swamps around the Cienaga 

 Grande and the delta of the Magdalena, and lastly the humid forest 

 of the Magdalena basin and of the north coast, as fully described 

 under the head of Ecological Conditions. As already explained, this 

 diversity of conditions is due in the main to the topography of the 

 region, differences in the relative humidity, etc. This very diversity 

 of conditions naturally makes for a corresponding diversity in the 

 bird-life. 



Beginning in the west, we have the mangrove-lined shores and water- 

 ways of the Cienaga Grande and Magdalena delta, inhabited by many 

 species of aquatic birds, some of which are rare or absent elsewhere 

 in this general region, The characteristic land birds, however, are 

 few in number. Among such may be mentioned Chloroceryle isnea 

 csnea, Lepidopyga lillia, Dendroica erithachorides erithachorides, and 

 Ateleodacnis hicolor. Most of the water birds on the list have a more 

 or less extended distribution in tropical America, and their presence 

 depends mainly upon suitable habitat and local conditions, not upon 

 zone, so that there would appear to be no sufficient justification for 

 the recognition of a minor faunal area covering their range in these 

 parts. 



The lowlands east of the Cienaga Grande, from the lower foot- 

 hills of the San Lorenzo south for an indeterminate distance, are 

 covered by a humid forest, where many species of birds not elsewhere 

 detected in this general region were secured. Some of the more 

 characteristic forms are : Amasona ochrocephala panamensis, Amazona 

 amazonica amazonica, Ara ararauna, Coccyzus lanshergi, Nonnula 

 frontalis pallescens, Picumnus squamulatus, Veniliornis kirkii cecilii, 

 Chrysoptilus punctigula ujhelyii, 'Curucujus melanwus macrourus, 

 Lepidopyga luminosa, Damophila julia julice, Formicarius analis vires- 

 cens, Cercomacra nigricans, Myrmopagis melcena melcena, Thamno- 

 philus nigriceps, Taraba transandeana granadensis, Pachyrhamphus 

 cinnamomeus magdalena, Attila idiotes, Capsiempis flaveolaleucophrys. 



