July, 1903 | 
THE CONDOR 
91 
region lying to the southwest of San Jose. On March ii, acting upon the advice 
of both Dr Jose Zeledon and Mr. Cecil F. Underwood of San Jose, we went down 
to Juan Vinas, some thirty-fi%’'e miles east on the Ferrocarril de Costa Rica, where 
we were assured of good ornithological as well as entomological collecting. Fortu- 
nately Mr. Underwood accompanied us. 
The altitude of Juan Vinas :s about 3,000 feet, and the scenery picturesque. 
Situated on the border of a large savanna, well up the mountain slope to the north 
of the Rio Raventizon, the stream is seen a thousand feet below as a winding sil- 
ver thread, bordered on either side with jungles of a rich green. 
The dawn was yet scarcely breaking the morning after our arrival when we 
were awakened by the sweet notes of meadowlarks, which came floating softly to 
our ears from the savanna. We could moie readily imagine ourselves home again, 
on the northern prairie in the early springtime, than in this far-away southern 
clime. 
Soon other birds were heard — songs strange and unfamiliar to our northern 
ears. Within a short fifteen minutes the jungle was filled with an endless variety 
of bird notes. There was not the slow, gradual swelling of the morning chorus as 
in the north; but after the first notes of the earliest birds there was a sudden out- 
burst of melody. 
While disposing of our morning “coffee” the day’s trips were planned, and I 
decided to accompany Mr. Underwood to the savanna and adjacent wooded slopes. 
In some bushes near the house were a number of Passerini tanagers {Rai 7 ipho- 
celus passerinii) which reminded us, in their jerky flight and movements, of the 
orchard oriole. As the birds moved about, their red rumps flashed brilliantly in 
the morning sunlight, and contrasted strongly with their black bodies and the dark 
green foliage. Several small finches with yellow face-masks were feeding in the 
short grass beneath the bushes and Mr. Underwood shot a pair, which proved to 
be Mexican grassquits { Tiaris olivacea pusilla). Later I often saw the grassquits 
feeding in the tall grass of the savanna, and once saw several sitting on the tele- 
graph wire, occasionally uttering a few lively notes. 
As we passed on toward the savanna bird-life became more varied. A beauti- 
ful wren-like song attracted us to some low bushes in the edge of the rank marsh 
grass. The singer, a small buff-breasted wren, was secured and found to be 
Troglodytes i)itertnedii(S. Several others of the same species were soon afterwards 
located by their notes, but were extremely shy, and kept well concealed in the 
matted cover. When at intervals one did come above the level of the marsh it 
perched on an exposed twig for a few moments and gave forth its sweet song, 
differing from that of the aedon chiefly in slower measure. 
While beating the grass for the wrens, Underwood secured a bright male Baird 
yki\\o\N -ihroat {Geothlypis semijlava bairdi), and several times we caught glimpses 
of a small brown raiF as it sneaked silently but quickly into denser cover. Num- 
bers of large, yellow-bellied flycatchers {.Wyiozetetes were noisily mating in the 
larger tree clumps, and occasionally a very small flycatcher, Todirostrum cinereutii, 
was noticed on a low, exposed climb. When seen thus — alternately darting after 
a passing insect, and again remaining stationary as it uttered a sharp little note 
accompanied by an energetic jerk of the tail, the bright yellow underparts made it 
a striking object indeed. 
Another flycatcher noted here was Myiarchus lawrencei, a bird of somewhat 
a Probably Porzana cinereiceps. 
