1917.] Chapman, Dislribution of Bird-life in Colombia. 31 



Juanchito. We passed through a heavy growth of bamboo, creepers and 

 brush about a mile before reaching the river and heard here several howling 

 monkeys. 



"After leaving this bottom-land the country again became rolling. 

 The hills are bare except for a wiry grass. There were no cattle. 



"May 15, we continued to pass through a bare, rolling country and at 

 4: 30 P. M. reached an elevation of 5900 feet. The following day the 

 country began to look more attractive. The road generally ran along the 

 top of a ridge and we could see for many miles. Everywhere the hUls were 

 covered with low trees and dense shrubbery. At an altitude of 6400 feet 

 we saw Green Jays (Xanihoura), Blue Swallows (Pygochelidon) , Andean 

 White-throats {Brachyspiza) and heard Compra Pans {Grallaria ruficeps). 

 There were also Black Thrushes {Menda gigas gigantodes)}" 



Popayan to Munchique. — " At first the country is comparatively level 

 with small clumps of trees and large cornfields. There were also groves of 

 oranges, apples of rather poor quality, fair peaches and good bananas and 

 plantains. A very little cacao and a great deal of coffee is grown. 



"The second day out (May 21) the country was rolling and barren 

 except for a few clumps of trees and brush. Many Black Merulas and Green 

 Jays were seen. After leaving Chappa, on May 22, the road became very 

 bad, rough and steep. At an altitude of 7200 feet we entered the forest and 

 at 4 P. M. that day made camp at 8325 feet, on the eastern slope, in a 

 small old clearing entirely surrounded by virgin forest in which we collected." 



Cerro Munchique to Cocal. — " One hour after leaving camp we reached 

 the top of the ridge (alt. 8800 ft.). Below was a sea of clouds, over which 

 the Pacific could be dimly distinguished. It is distant fifty miles, but owing 

 to the numerous ravines and ridges the natives take eight days to reach the 

 coast. There is but a narrow trail through the dense forest which here is 

 like that on the crest of the ridge above Miraflores. 



" The trail is like a stairway down which one goes with much difficulty, 

 some of the steps being six feet or more. We camped by the Rio Tambito, 

 a narrow, swift stream running through a 20-foot gorge, and after crossing 

 another ridge (alt. 6900 ft.) through the forest, reached Cocal (alt. 4000 ft.)^ 

 at 4 P. M. the next day. 



"Cocal is a settlement of negroes who are practically savages. They- 

 live in miserable huts and wear no clothes. The mountain sides are very 

 steep and the jungle all but impenetrable. I estimate that fully thirty 



1 Indicating tlie arid Subtropics, to which the Temperate Zone Black Merula descends. — F. M. C. 



2 The collections from Cocal include species which we have not elsewhere found at so low an eleva- 

 tion, but Mr. Miller tells me that some of the birds labeled Cocal were taken at a higher altitude than 

 the settlement. 



