24 Bull. B.O.C. 2003 123(1)Andrés M. Cuervo et al. New birds for Guyana

Venezuela and Brazil, has figured prominently in the history of ornithology in South America. Revered by indigenous people as the “mother of waters”, this mountain was the destination of numerous exploratory expeditions, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the early expeditions to Mt Roraima were undertaken to explore the boundaries and/or biodiversity of Guyana, during the time that it was a British colony. Extensive collections were returned to European, Venezuelan and American museums by intrepid field scientists such as the Schomburgks, Whitely, McConnell, Quelch, Tate, Carter, the Phelps and others (Mayr & Phelps 1967). This material formed the basis for the description of numerous taxa of the endemic highland avifauna of the Pantepui region. Ironically, many of these highland birds are not actually known to occur within the boundaries of Guyana (Phelps 1938, Snyder 1966, Braun et al. 2000), even though they have appeared in several previous accounts of its avifauna (e.g., Cabanis 1848, Chubb 1916, 1921). Because it is much easier to approach Mt Roraima throug