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JvI,, 19031 THE CONDOR 91 region lying to the southwest of San Jose. On March ? 1, acting upon the ad?rice of both Dr Jose Zeledon and Mr. Cecil F. Underwood of San Jose, we went down to Juan Vinas, some thirty-five 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,ooo 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 mo?e 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 adiacent wooded slopes. In some bushes near the house were a number of Passerini tanagers (Rampho- celus?asseriniz') 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 ]?usilla).' 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 sec.ured and found to be Tro?lodytes intermedius. 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 wrells, Underwood secured a bright male Baird yellow-throat (Geothlypis semzflava baitall), and several times we caught glimpses of a small brown rail a as it sneaked silently but quickly into denser cover. Num- bers of large, yellow-bellied flycatchers (,lgyiozetetes sp.) were noisily mating in the larger tree clumps, and occasionally a very small flycatcher, Todirostrum cinereum, 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 Affyiarchus lawrencei, a bird of somewhat a Probably Porzana cinereiceps.