_ _ J__ ' _ _ _ g* *» l « 4 open a duffel bag wirn 
c ?^lt and aid considerable damage. -Leaving the 
rivelt'/wel*swung to right, olimbing up over abridge rising 
8,oe0 feet, then down a long wide valley with easy gradienij 
^nd finally reached a ti ny ha m let on th iio Kizaue 
called Ele-Ele. It was about 7.30 and dark when we kxijf) 
arrived,but the place looked "good for collecting. There hi 
had been no houses anywher on the Pdo .Chaluani where it 
would have been possible to stop. The whole country betwee 
the -f two rivers is completely dry and arid,with cacti and 
thorn scrub,althong on the high ridges((S,000 feet unward 
there are a fair number of trees of 30 to 40 feet in 
"height. The valley of the Qhaluani is very narrow,'with" 
precipituous Sl opes,although t her e is more vegetation and 
lesss cacti and thorn scrub than on the Rio Mizque. 
The long valley running down to the Rio Mizque is 
wide and with much be,ch land along the sides. The whole, 
ivery dry and arid, soil mostly red or yellow, with lots 
of sandstone everywhere(no other rock but sandstone) 
r he vegetation consists almost entirely of thorn or 
spine bearing shrubs and trees and giant cacti of enor¬ 
mous size,many being 2 feet in diameter and 40 feet tall, 
there _ar.e many other spec i es of cacti, slender-branching 
species,barrel cacti,prickly pear and a sort of wild 
pinaple and a very thorny Rromeliad-like plant on ground 
in huge patches. Another tree,very abundant,growing tq® 
20 or. 25 feet high and wide and bushy,has thick masse,' 
of spines on the limbs,spines 5 to 6 inches long and 
one eighth. of-, an inch in diameter,with very sharp points 
These^spines replace the leaves of the<tree. I never saw 
any place in all my travels where the Xeroohytic vege-tatie 
on reached such an extreme point as here. 
■s secured a small house in the hamlet(vacant) and 
the Alcalde agreed to furnish us meals,so we unloaded 
our stuff and set up beds. After a hasty, sketchy- s-unoer 
• e turned in. Just before reaching the village we had stru 
^struck an overhanging" tree with the ton 'of our load and 
did more da g e, s m a shing the folding chairs and ripping 
the bag almost to pieces in which they were packed. 
""he following day was spent in making repairs on chest, 
chairs etc,und_in arranging our living quarters. 
spent ten days collecting here and in spite of the 
arid conditions we found birds abundant as to-species and 
individuals. 251. skins were secured,with a total of 75 
species collected,of which 43 were new for the year and l; 
new to the Collection. They included quite a number of 
ra:^e things,found only in this'arid region. Woodpecker 
and Parrotts were especially numerous both in species 
and individuals. 6 species of Parrotts and 7 of"Wood¬ 
peckers ,the most numerous of the latter being Trichopicus 
of the f ormer, Thectocercus acuticaudus 
