1917.] ' Chapman, Distribution of Bird-life in Colombia. 69 



When our own collections lacked the specimens needed to answer the 

 question at issue, an appeal to allied institutions or to collectors has rarely 

 failed to produce them. 



The Batty Collection. — In 1898, the American Museum purchased from 

 the late J. H. Batty 290 bird skins which had been collected by him in the 

 region about Cali. The specimens are fully labeled, but I have been able 

 definitely to locate only a few of the places at which they were taken, and 

 with some exceptions they are therefore not listed in this paper. It should 

 be added that the collection contains only one or two species not obtained 

 by our Museum expeditions. It was through this collection and informa- 

 tion secured in many long talks with Mr. Batty that I was first attracted 

 to the Cauca Valley. 



The Mrs. Kerr Collections. — In 1908 the American Museum purchased 

 from an American woman, Mrs. Elizabeth L. Kerr, one hundred and ninety- 

 four bird skins which she had collected in Colombia west of Honda, in the 

 Magdalena Valley, and on the eastern slopes of the Central Andes up to an 

 altitude of 3000 feet. 



Later Mrs. Kerr was commissioned to collect specimens in the Atrato 

 Valley, and the two hundred skins secured by her and listed under the locali- 

 ties she visited are the only ones we have secured from this region, except 

 those taken by Miller and Boyle at Dabeiba and Alto Bonito. 



The Hermano Apolinar Maria Collections. — Through the cordial rela- 

 tions established by our Expedition No. 7 with Hermano Apolinar Maria, 

 Director of the Instituto de la Salle of Bogota, we have since received from 

 him a number of small lots of birds from the Bogota. Some have been col- 

 lected at our request, some have been sent for identification, some in ex- 

 change, others as a donation. They have included a large proportion of 

 rare and interesting species. Brother Apolinar's cooperation has been 

 especially valuable in securing specimens of species but poorly or not at 

 all represented in the collections made by our Expedition No. 7. 



The Gonzales Collections. — Manuel Gonzales, a native of Bogota, while 

 employed as a general helper by our Expedition No. 7, was taught to prepare 

 bird skins. A collecting outfit was left with him and he subsequently 

 sent us some six hundred specimens, chiefly from the region about Bogota, 

 but including also seventy-nine from Barrigon at the head of navigation 

 on the Meta. The localities visited by Gonzales, with the number of speci- 

 mens collected at each are listed in the Gazeteer. 



