16 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXXVI, 



Bogota. He returned to Barranquilla over the same route. The expedi- 

 tion occupied but a month (June 20-July 21) and afforded neither time nor 

 opportunity for much field work. Nevertheless, the daily record of birds 

 observed tells us what species enter into the everyday bird-life of this part 

 of Colombia, and the records, as far as they go, are definite. It is to be 

 regretted that Col. Robinson did not continue his journey to El Vergel, 

 but two hours beyond Guaduas, where he would have found first-growth 

 forest and an interesting fauna. 



Salmon's Collections in Antioquia. — Proceeding to the west, we shall 

 find that beyond the occasional mention of specimens secured by native 

 collectors on the 'Quindiu' and in 'Antioquia', our exact knowledge of the 

 bird-life of central Colombia has rested solely on the collections made by 

 T. K. Salmon in the Department of Antioquia. These were reported on 

 by Sdater and Salvin (P. Z. S., 1879, pp. 486-550) in a list of 468 species 

 represented by about 3500 specimens. 



Salmon was an Englishman in the employ of the Colombian Govern- 

 ment and lived at Medellin. His collections were made between 1872 and 

 1878, chiefly at and near Medellin, but he also visited the country as far 

 west as Frontino, Antioquia, and Concordia, and as far south as Jerico, 

 while to the north and east he reached Remedios, in the Tropical Zone, on 

 the headwaters of the Ite, which flows into the Magdalena. His field, 

 therefore, extended from the eastern border of the Atrato, to the western 

 border of the* Magdalena Valleys. 



The locality " Sta. Elena" which appears so often in Sdater and Salvin's 

 list, and which they were unable definitely to locate, is situated a few miles 

 east of Medellin, on the summit of the first ridge of the Central Andes 

 between that city and the Magdalena Valley. 



Salmon was the first naturalist to make anything approaching a com- 

 plete collection of the birds of a stated area in Colombia and his work is of 

 high importance. Where his localities are not on or near the boundaries 

 of life-zones the data accompanying his specimens are sufficient. His records 

 from Remedios, for example, a station wholly in the Tropical Zone (alt. 

 2360 ft.) and at some distance from altitudes of sufficient height to support 

 life of the succeeding or Subtropical Zone, are of much significance and give 

 us our first, and, until the present time, practically only knowledge of the 

 extension of Pacific coast forms into the Magdalena Valley. From Reme- 

 dios, for example, Sclater and Salvin record Cyphorhinus pkceocephaliis, 

 Thryophilits nigricapillus, Orthogonys olivaceus, and Capita maculicoronatiis. 

 When, however, his collections were made at localities where the precipitous 

 nature of the ground and height of the mountains produced marked changes 

 in altitude within short distances, Salmon evidently failed to appreciate 



