Colin C. Sanborn

The Captain Marshall Field Brazilian Expedition, with reduced personnel, continued work begun in 1926. The zoological section of this expedition included originally Mr. George K. Cherrie, Mrs. Marshall Field, Mrs. Grace G. Seton, Mr. Curzon Taylor, Mr. Karl P. Schmidt, and Mr. Colin C. Sanborn. Most of the party returned in 1926, but Mr. Sanborn, with one native assistant, continued until October, 1927. He spent a total of four months in Uruguay traveling some 2,000 miles by motor truck, visiting eight Departments of the country and making collections at twelve different points. Among the birds obtained were five species not previously recorded from Uruguay. Two specimens were secured of a very rare bird discovered by Charles Darwin nearly 100 years ago and not reported subsequently. It is the Straight-billed Reed Runner, a small bird of wren-like habits, and the specimens now in Field Museum are the only ones extant with the exception of Darwin's original types in the British Museum. The total collections from Uruguay number 345 mammals, 462 birds, 786 reptiles, and 2,500 fish, being the only important collection of Uruguayan vertebrates in the United States. (from the 1927 Annual Report)