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 I58 THE CONDOR ] VOL. VII three species, were common, and in wet places grew large caladium-like plants whose immense leaves more than once sheltered me from the hard showers which sometimes caught lne; for in such an event it was only necessary to sever the stem with my machete, sit upon a log or rock and hold the leaf over me, its size being such as to afford complete cover and shelter. a As naturally would result from tile difference in altitude, the birds of Coil- blanco were mostly different from those of Bonilla. Of toucans there was only one kind, the green Aulacorhamphus cceruleiularis; of trogons only T. puella and tile Quetzal, here at the lower limit of its range. A nest of the latter was found, in a dead stump, some twelve feet from the ground, from which a young bird, full- fledged, was taken. From Coliblanco a brief visit was made to a high potrero at the base of the ash-cone of Turrialba, at an altitude of 9ooo feet. There everything was different, and it seemed as if the very climax of the beautiful in Nature was there manifested. Nothing I have ever seen elsewhere so much suggested the possibilities of Paradise, and short as was our visit I consider it alone worth the trip to Costa Rica. The air was cool and bracing as our finest October weather in the States; the several hundred acres comprising the potrero were like an immense, well-kept park, with long vistas through groves and clunlps of magnificent trees over undulating lawns of vivid green cultivated grasses cropped close by the grazing cattle and studded with wild violets, buttercups and English daisies. But there was never a private or public park with such trees--so beautiful or varied in form and foliage, or so bedecked with flowers. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that every tree bore flowers, either of its own or of some climbing vine or epiphyte, while nearly all were further embellished by brightly colored bromeliads and other epiphytes, ferns, or orchids. To the right rose tile cone of the volcano, cov- ered with dense chaparral, while to the left, at a greater distance but still near enough to enable every detail to be clearly seen, the long ridge-like mass of Irazfi. In this beautiful park birds were tar more numerous than [ have ever seen them elsewhere, or at least they were more in evidence, for the clear open character of the place enabled one to see them at long distances. Large black robins witl golden yellow bill and feet (Arerda n(vresces) ran gracefully upon the green sward, and it was rarely if ever that we were not within hearing of the whir or twitter of hummingbirds, the most numerous of which was the beautiful anlerpe insgns, remarkable for the fact that both sexes are equally brilliant in color. That truly royal bird the Quetzal was also common here, and, like every other species, very tame. For several nlinutes I watched a pair in a tree close by and could not shoot them--they were too beautiful. They could easily have been photographed but I had left my camera behind. I cannot express the reluctance with which I left this most beautiful place, even though it was our intention to return;,. but in this expectation we were disappointed, for soon after reaching Coliblanco the a Some of these large aroids are seen in the lower middle portion of the view accompanying this article /p. 55) Referring to the wonderful variety of plant-life here I will state as a matter of probable interest, that from a single moderate-sized stump in this potrero I gathered twenty-one distinct species of ferns! I am very sorry not to be able to present in this article one or more views from Bonilla, where the vegetation was even more remarkable than at eoliblanco, though almost wholly different, owing to the difference of several thousand feet in the elevation of the two places; but I was attacked by malarial fever (wholly unknown at Coliblanco and other high places) before I could get time to use thecamera. b This young Quetzal, "Montezuma" by name, is a contented member of the aviary of Don Jose e. Zeledon at San Jose. c I should acknowledge here onr obligations to Don Francisco Guiterrez, proprietor of the lecheria and potrero of Turrialba, and his son, Don Ramon Guiterrez, for their hospitality during our stay and a cordial invitation (which we were unfortnnately prevented by a Bad turn ill the weather from accepting) to return and continue our col- lecting there.