1917.] Chapman, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia. 49 



Florencia, but the aneroid registered 600 feet. The trail is bad and all 

 but impassable to mules. There is practically no difference in the forest, 

 but probably there are more streams. There is a ridge of low hills near by, 

 to the east, not over 500 feet higher than the surrounding country, and also 

 heavily forested. Some of the larger birds taken here are said to have 

 been common around Florencia some years ago, but to have retreated with 

 the approach of civilization." 



Expedition No. 6. — Tumaco-Barhacoas. July 26 -Oct. 13, 1912. 



Personnel. — W. B. Richardson. 



Itinerary. — ^ Richardson reached Tumaco by steamer from Panama, 

 July 26. He left there July 30, arriving at Barbacoas August 3. In this 

 unhealthful locahty he worked until September 10, when an attack of beri- 

 beri forced him to seek a higher altitude and he continued up the trail 

 toward Pasto to Ricaurte, at an elevation of about 4500 feet. He remained 

 at Ricaurte until September 30, and then returned to Barbacoas, stopping 

 on the way down, as he had on the way up, at Buenavista on the Pasto 

 Trail. Barbacoas was left about October 8, and Tumaco reached October 

 13. From this point Richardson sailed for Esmeraldas, Ecuador, and for 

 the following year collected in that country. 



Description of Route and Collecting Stations. — The following informa- 

 tion is taken from Richardson's letters and reports: 



"The island of Tumaco is dry, sunny, and sandy with only stunted 

 vegetation; and, on one side, mangroves. There are only a few common 

 birds there. On reaching the mainland at Sala Honda, at the mouth of the 

 Patia, everything changes and the next one hundred miles is through a dense 

 swamp of flooded forests. It is inhabited only by negroes who live on the 

 river banks and cultivate patches of rice and plantains and cut wood for 

 the steamer. Their huts are built of bamboo on poles five to eleven feet 

 above the ground, and they last only a few years. When abandoned their 

 thatched roofs are soon converted by nature into veritable 'roof gardens; 

 a mass of vines and parasites, ferns, mosses, and even corn and bananas 

 growing on top of them until they cave in. 



" After four days by steamer and canoe, I managed to reach Barbacoas. 

 The surrounding country is much like that which exists between Buena- 

 ventura and Cisneros on the road to Cali, thick, heavy forest and impene- 

 trable jungle all matted together with vines and undergrowth. 



" Nothing is cultivated but plantains. The only paths through the forest 

 lead to gold washings. For that reason I did much collecting from a canoe. 



