Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

14 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
The season was fall; many birds apparently had come down from
the mountains and migratory movement was still in progress. At
the same time we were far enough north to escape rigorous cold, so
that insect feeding species were present in numbers. A red-flowered
epiphyte {Psittacanthus) that formed brilliant patches of color,
visible in the trees for long distances, drew many hummingbirds,
among them a beautiful species with long tail {Sappho sapho).
The night of April 14 we returned to Tafi Viejo, Tucuman, and
on the 16th visited Senor Budin in Tucuman. On April 17 we
climbed the Sierra San Xavier above Tafi Viejo, a mountain rising
to an altitude of 2,300 meters. The town lies at about 600 meters,
Avith small cultivated fields or chacras extending up a gradual slope
to the base of the hills at about 1,300 meters. At this point we en-
tered a steep-sided valley and traversed a trail that zigzagged up the
slopes through a heavy rain forest dense with creepers, ferns, and
parasitic plants, and with an undergrowth of huge nettles, other
soft-stemmed plants, and low shrubs. At about 1,800 meters on the
trail this forest terminated, though on southeast exposures it ran
up 250 meters farther. Beyond were openings, Avith grass waist
high, and groves of tree alder and other strange trees that formed
forest of another type in certain areas. At 2,100 meters tree growth,
except in sheltered gulches, gave way to rounded slopes covered with
bunch grass. Among such diverse habitats we obtained a number
of birds not seen before and regretted that our departure was im-
perative on the following day.
In Tucuman, on April 18, we parted company and I returned to
Mendoza, where I arrived April 20. At 5 the following morning
I passed my baggage through the Argentine customs, and shortly
after left on the trans-Andean railroad for Valparaiso, Chile, where
[ arrived at midnight. Through Dr. Edwyn Eeed, to whom I was
indebted for many courtesies, I removed on April 23 to Concon, a
tiny settlement where the Rio Aconcagua enters the sea, going by
rail to Vina del Mar and by motor car to a little road house at Concon,
where I arrived at 9 in the evening in a drenching rain. At
Concon the Aconcagua meandered through a level, fertile valley
with rounded hills grown with brush on either hand. A broad
gravel or sand beach lay on the ocean front, with rocky cliffs to the
south. The weather was cool but pleasant, and with the general
aspect of the country gave a strong reminder of California. On
April 29 I returned to Valparaiso, and on the following morning
embarked on the Grace Line steamer Santa Elisa for the States.
Stops were made at Antofagasta, Chile, May 2 ; Iquique, Chile, May
3; Mollendo, Peru, May 4; and Callao, Peru, May 6. On May 11
we passed through the Panama Canal, and May 18 arrived at New
York. On the following morning I again reached Washington.