3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

Expeditions to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands 65
Fig.2.8. The isolated Cyclops Mountains and Lake Sentani on the northern coast of Irian
Jaya (former Dutch New Guinea). Elevations in feet. For a location map see Fig. 2.4
◭
After the Resident Officer had returned on 12 August they were ready to leave
for the Cyclops Mountains on 16 August and on the same day reached Ifaar on Lake
Sentani. A number of endemic subspecies of birds inhabiting this grassland region
indicate that at least part of the grassland must be old and not man-made. Among
the grassland birds were Malurus, Megalurus, Saxicola, and some Lonchura species.
On 18 August a camp was established north of Ifaar at about 700 to 750 m elevation.
Here they had found a spring, but no other water further up the slope. With several
helpers Mayr concentrated for a few days on plant collecting, especially orchids
were plentiful in this region. The forests were swarmed by chiggers and, not quite
as bad, by leeches. 9 It rained a lot, but not as much as on the Wondiwoi Mountains
a month earlier. Mayr found the lower limit of distribution of montane birds to be
higher here than in the Arfak and Wondiwoi Mountains. He established that most
of the montane avifauna was missing, particularly the birds of paradise. Therefore,
the birds of the lower montane zones extend their vertical ranges all the way up
to 2,000 m, e.g., Phylloscopus, Pitohui dichrous, and Poecilodryas leucops. Mayr
suspected that the montane species never had colonized this isolated mountain
range rather than being extinct there. This mountain range and others along the
north coast of New Guinea probably have been islands cut off from the rest of New
Guinea during the late Tertiary.
Hartert and Rothschild’s idea that the Cyclops Mountains might harbor an
unknownmontanebirdfaunahadbeenbasedonasmallbirdcollectionsupposedly
from the “Cyclops Mountains” made by J.M. Dumas in the late 1890s. Rothschild
(1899) had described Melampitta gigantea from “Mt. Maori west of Humboldt
Bay.” Mayr’s (1930f: 24) statement that Mt. Moari (Mori) is actually located in the
Arfak Mountains near Oransbari (Fig. 2.5) helped to solve many zoogeographical
problems.
Around 2,000 m the forest was high and humid. While hunting birds Mayr
looked at all the epiphytes in search of flowering orchids which were plentiful
there. On 3 September he moved the camp to a site at 1,100 m which had been
prepared during the preceding days and on 11 September he climbed the top of the
Cyclops Mountains. A view from a high tree convinced him that this was indeed
the highest peak. On the way back to camp he visited a cave inhabited by about
300 large fruit bats which, after his entry, cruised around screaming in the upper
part of the cave.
On 14 September the expedition returned to the lowlands and to Ifaar at the shore
of Lake Sentani. The grassland avifauna was studied for a week and on 21 September
Mayr went alone to Hollandia to take care of his mail and to dispatch the bird
collections to Bogor (Buitenzorg, Java). The steamer arrived on 24 September
1928 with rather unexpected news. Whereas Mayr expected his return to Germany
9 As an example, after a march of 1 1/2 hours, he removed 83 leeches from his shoes.