1917.] Chapman, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia. 15 



Bogotd, region is the Savanna of Bogota itself. The comparatively limited 

 number of birds found in this area has made it an unfavorable spot for the 

 resident collectors who have, naturally, been more attracted by the richer 

 avifauna of forested humid regions. Doubtless for this reason some of 

 the commonest of true Bogota species are comparatively rare in Bogota 

 collections. 



1 During one morning I shot the types of new races of the Least Bittern, 

 Short-eared Owl, and Yellow-headed Blackbird at Suba, within sight of 

 the city. At the same locality Hermano Apolinar Maria secured for us 

 specimens of distinct forms of Cistothorus and Hahrura, genera which had 

 not been previously reported from the Bogota region. The Coot {Fidica) 

 of the Savanna also proves to be a well-marked, undescribed form which has 

 doubtless escaped the attention of earlier writers because of lack of material. 



The forested portion of the Magdalena Valley, from La Dorada north- 

 ward, seems to have been but little visited by the Bogota collectors who 

 prefer the more healthful localities in the mountains to the hot, fever- 

 infested river bottoms. 



Claude Wyatt's Explorations. — Aside from the native collections and 

 the few birds secured by Wheeler and Detwiler, we have only three other 

 sources of information concerning the bird-life of the Eastern Andes and 

 country at their base. In January, February and March, 1870, Mr. Claude 

 Wyatt made an ornithological reconnaissance in Santander. He left the 

 Magdalena River at Puerto Nacional and proceeded thence by mule through 

 Ocana, La Cruz and Cocuta Surat^ to Bucaramanga. From this point he 

 ascended to the Paramo of Pamplona and returned to the Magdalena near 

 what is now Puerto Wilches. He gives an excellent description pf the 

 country traversed, and the accurate data as regards locality and altitude at 

 which he secured specimens of the 210 species he lists, makes his paper (Ibis, 

 1871, p. 113 et seq.) one of real scientific value. 



Berlepsch on a Bucaramanga Collection. — In 1884 Count von Berlepsch 

 published in the Journal fiir Ornithologie (pp. 273-320) a report on a collec- 

 tion of some 800 bird skins, representing 150 species, which was sent him 

 from Bucaramanga. These sldns were made by natives and were without 

 data. It is probable that they came from the country immediately sur- 

 rounding Bucaramanga, but beyond indicating in a general way the faunal 

 affinity of this region with that of Bogota, the collection possesses little 

 value for distributional problems. 



Wirt Robinson on the Magdalena:' — ^In 1895, Lieutenant (now Colonel) 

 Wirt Robinson published a list of ninety-one species collected or observed 

 by himself and his brother on a trip from Barranquilla up the Magdalena 

 td Honda and thence to Guaduas, distant a day's journey on the road to 



