1917.] Chapman, Distribuiion of Bird-life in Colombia. 55 



referred to as paramo, it barely reaches the level at which true paramo be- 

 gins. The prevailing winds are easterly and the clouds which have passed 

 over the lower ridges to the east here give up their moisture, producing a 

 climate marked by chilling winds with driving mist and rain. 



The upper portions of the eastern slope above Chipaque are covered 

 with dense, but rather poorly developed Temperate Zone forest, the last 

 forest-growth through which the trail passes until one reaches the eastern- 

 most ridge in the range. 



As one descends to Chipaque the forest, doubtless partly because of 

 natural conditions and partly because of the demands of agriculture, gradu- 

 ally disappears. We were favored in securing quarters at an hacienda about 

 -a mile west of the town of Chipaque and some five hundred feet above it. 



The avifauna here was characteristic of that of the Temperate Zone, 

 a single specimen of Gallinago nobilis and one of Cistothonis cequatorialis 

 taken at approximately ten thousand feet, indicated our proximity to the 

 Paramo Zone above, while a single specimen of Henicorhina leucophrys 

 guttata taken in the dense undergrowth bordering a deep ravine cut by the 

 Caqueza, illustrated the tendency of a lower zone fauna to penetrate the 

 zone above along the protected banks of barrancas. 



The absence of forests between the summit of the range above Chipaque 

 and the most eastern ridges of the range, or approximately between 9500 

 and 4500 feet altitude, was a great disappointment to us, since it prevented 

 us from securing a collection in the Subtropical Zone forests of the range. 

 This is the most serious gap in our field work in the Bogota region. Such 

 forest doubtless exists in other parts of the range, but in the region traversed 

 by us it was restricted to the summits of the higher mountains and ridges 

 where, under the circumstances, it was not accessible. That its exploration 

 would yield most interesting results for comparison with those obtained 

 near Fusugasugd, is indicated by the discovery of a new form of Ostinops 

 sincipitalis, taken by Ring with much diflSculty from a forest-crowned 

 summit rising to 1000 feet above Monteredondo, and by the striking differ- 

 ence found to exist between the Jays of the genus Xanthoura inhabiting 

 ■opposite slopes of the range. 



At Quetame (alt. 4800 ft.), our next station, the trail continues to pass 

 through an arid, treeless region with some tree-growth along the water- 

 courses in ravines or lateral barrancas, and occasionally a crown of forest 

 on some rounded crest high enough to receive moisture. 



The first evidences of Amazonian bird-life were observed just east of 

 ■Caqueza, and about thirty miles from Bogota where, at an altitude of 5500 

 feet, Tanagra episcopus was noted, and from this point it became increas- 

 ingly common as we journeyed toward the Llanos. 



