[Illustration: Our camp on the Paramillo.]
The Paramillo region is composed of a series of sharply inclined peaks, the highest of which has an elevation of thirteen thousand feet, and is interspersed with ravines and deep fissures. The surface consists mainly of dark sandstone, so shattered over vast areas that a thin litter of particles covers the fundamental rock. Occasionally a thin vein of white quartz crops out to the surface, especially where, as often occurs, the strata stand in a perpendicular position.
At night the temperature dropped to 28° F., and ice half an inch thick formed on the reservoir; in the morning the ground was white with frost. The sparse vegetation on the slope consists of _frailejones_, blueberry-bushes and tall, tough grass; stunted trees and bushes, all covered with moss, grow in the deeper ravines. Hunting in these latter places was a never-ending source of delight; there was no water so it was possible to walk unrestrictedly underneath the green vault of brush which fringed the sides and met overhead. Many little mammals’ trails zigzagged over the moss-covered rocks, and burrows opened into the steep banks; if we stole noiselessly along, or better still, sat quietly for a few minutes, the inquiring eyes of a paca, a large, spotted, tailless rodent, were sure to peer timidly out of some dark opening, to be followed later by the animal’s entire body as it moved out stealthily to nibble on the tender sprouts. Numbers of woolly, yellow rats (_Melanomys_) also appeared to stare with beady, black eyes, and to nervously twitch their noses; sometimes they came out boldly to chase one another over well-defined runways and through mossy tunnels; but more often, they were content merely to gaze from the entrance of some safe retreat into which they vanished at the first suspicious move on our part. Deer, too, were seen occasionally, but they were not numerous; they grazed on the slopes in broad daylight, and had snug lairs in dense clumps of bushes which always commanded a view of the surrounding country. We saw no cougars or bears although we found the remains of several deer which had apparently been killed by these animals.
Birds were extremely scarce and, strange to relate, exceedingly wary. Collecting them was heart-breaking work; the slopes are so steep, that it was impossible to walk many yards without becoming utterly exhausted, and tramping through the high, wet grass chilled the lower extremities to numbness. The slaty finch (_Phrygilus_) so common at Santa Isabel, and two species of honey-creepers (_Diglossa_) were by far the most common; followed by a queer, wren-like little bird (_Scytalopus_) called tapacola, which lives among the densest ferns and mosses; it was seldom seen, but a cheery whistle apprised us constantly of its presence. There was also a gorgeous humming-bird, the whole body being of the most resplendent, iridescent deep rose and green colors; we located a nest of this species, a tiny moss cup scarcely an inch across, suspended from a creeper dangling beneath a bower of protecting leaves; it held two minute eggs, so fragile that the mere touch of a finger would crush them.