42 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Jan. II, 1913 
New Biological Material Collected. 
BY RALEIGH R.MNES. 
The Smithsoflian Institution has just de¬ 
scribed further new material collected during the 
Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone, in¬ 
cluding new insects, mammals and birds. This 
survey was inaugurated in 1910 and continued 
for two seasons, the Smithsonian having the co¬ 
operation of various Government bureaus, in¬ 
cluding the Bureau of Fisheries, the Bureau of 
Entomology, the Biological Survey, the Isthmian 
Canal Commission, the Panama Railroad Com¬ 
pany and the Field Museum of Natural History 
of Chica.go, the latter institution taking part in 
the fish collecting. 
Early in 1912, E. A. Goldman, of the Bio¬ 
logical Survey of the Department of Agriculture, 
went to Panama for the second exploration and 
made extensive additional collections of mam¬ 
mals in January and February. From February 
to June explorations were conducted in Eastern 
Panama to determine the faunal relation of that 
region to the Canal Zone, as well as the areas 
to the westward and northward. His efforts 
were centered around the Pirri Mountains, one 
of the highest ranges in Eastern Panama, rising 
more than 5,000 feet, located near the Colombian 
boundary, southeast of San Miguel Bay. This 
region is covered with a dense unbroken forest 
and has a heavy annual rainfall, although at tlie 
lower levels it is usually dry from January to 
April, except for a nearly continual fog, and the 
consequent condensation of moisture on the foli¬ 
age, which has practically the same effect as light 
showers. The collection of natural history speci¬ 
mens, which includes some 800 birds and 595 
mammals, indicates that the fauna of Eastern 
Panama is South American in its general char¬ 
acteristics. 
j\Ir. Goldman collected fourteen new species 
and sub-species, including a pigmy opossum, sev¬ 
eral forms of field mice and rats, a squirrel, a 
pocket gopher, a porcupine, a forest rabbit, a 
bushdog, a shrew, and an old raccoon-like animal 
peculiar to Central America, only recently at all 
common in collections. All of these various 
specimens have been deposited in the U. S. Na¬ 
tional Museum. 
The new birds collected during the explora¬ 
tion have been described by E. W. Nelson, of the 
Biological Survey, and the species represent 
three new genera and twenty-four new species 
and sub-species, including wood-dove, two mot- 
mots, three hummingbirds, two flycatchers, sev¬ 
eral tanagers, two warblers, a woodpecker, tou¬ 
can, wren, finch, thrush and others. Many of the 
specimens were collected by Mr. Goldman who, 
it appears, is the first zoological collector to 
penetrate the forests about Mount Pirri and its 
bordering lowlands. Here many birds and mam¬ 
mals not before known from Panama were taken, 
a number of which were also new to science. 
Several species of South American animals ap¬ 
pear to reach their northern limit at this point, 
being unknown in the Canal Zone and adjacent 
territory, although only about 150 miles distant. 
J. R. Malloch, of the Bureau of Entomology of 
the Department of Agriculture, has identified 
three new species of diptera, having been col¬ 
lected by August Busch while a member of the 
exploring party in the regions of Taboga Island, 
Panama. All of the new specimens will be 
mounted and placed in the National Museum. 
Little attention has been paid to Panama as 
a favorable hunting ground for sportsmen and 
naturalists, but it is expected that the publicity 
given to the two Government expeditions will 
induce some of the venturesome in search of 
new fields to visit this near possession where the 
hunting is in fresh fields and where the reward 
may be wholesome and satisfactory. 
BUFFALOES INCREASING. 
Lieut.-Col. Brett, Commanding Yellowstone 
National Park, reports to the Interior Depart¬ 
ment that his men have seen more buffaloes in 
the wild herd in the park recently than for ten 
years past. They counted forty-eight buffaloes, 
he reports, and all of them appeared to be in 
fine condition. The tame herd, which is kept in 
an inclosure in the park, now numbers, accord¬ 
ing to Colonel Brett, 144. 
A private retreat for nesting birds will be 
maintained by the Federal Government near 
Valentine, Nebraska. President Taft has -pro¬ 
claimed the reservation of 613 additional acres 
on the abandoned Fort Niobrara reservation, the 
only reserve in the continental United States 
maintained for the breeding of prairie chickens, 
sharp-tailed grouse and quail. Citizens of Valen¬ 
tine, and the National Association of Audubon 
Societies, subscribed sufficient money to erect a 
heavy mesh wire fence around the tract, within 
which there will be immediately located as com¬ 
panions of the three species of the grouse family 
herds of bison, deer and antelope, presented by 
a Nebraskan who has been breeding these animals 
for years. 
The Meadow Lark in California. 
From the laboratory of the University of 
California comes an interesting study of the 
food habits of the Western meadow lark. This 
species has been much complained of by Cali¬ 
fornia farmers because of its habit of pulling 
up the sprouting grain. 
Harold C. Bryant, one of the assistants of 
the California State, Fish and Game Commis¬ 
sion, has made a careful study of the Western 
meadow lark in a particular locality—Red Bluff, 
Tehama county, California — examining the 
stomachs of six birds a month for each month 
of the year. He has found that for the 
twelve months the birds average about 65 
per cent, of animal food to 35 per cent, of 
vegetable food. Thus in January, when insects 
are not available, the meadow lark eats but i 
per cent, of animal food and 99 per cent, of 
vegetable food. During the next two or three 
months the percentage of animal food grows 
larger, while that of vegetable food decreases, 
until in the month of !May the meadow lark 
eats 99.9 per cent, of animal food and only .1 
per cent, of vegetable food. All through the 
summer the animal food far overbalances the 
vegetable. Of the insects eaten, about one-half 
are grasshoppers and one-third cut worms. Mr. 
Bryant gives a table which shows the number 
of grasshoppers consumed by meadow larks in 
summer, and from these tables he concludes that 
the meadow lark consume not far from fifty 
grasshoppers in a day. 
While it no doubt is true that not all the 
grasshoppers destroyed are actually injurious— 
