Mr. F. Du Cane Godman on the Birds of the Azores. 105 



whilst other residents must be included. On reference to M. 

 Fucherau's paper in the ' Revue et Magasin de Zoologie^ for 

 1859 (vol. xi. p. 409), it would appear that M. Morelet actually 

 obtained only four specimens of birds from these islands, whence 

 I infer that the rest of his list was formed from observations 

 casually made, and not corroborated by the collection and colla- 

 tion of specimens. That my own catalogue includes all the 

 stragglers, I do not pretend to say ; on the contrary, I have no 

 doubt that the number may be considerably extended ; but with 

 regard to the residents, I believe it will be found tolerably 

 correct. Scarcely a storm occurs in spring or autumn without 

 bringing one or more species foreign to the islands — a fact well 

 known to many. of the inhabitants; and I have been frequently 

 told that Swallows, Larks, Grebes, and other species not referred 

 to here, are not uncommonly seen at those seasons of the year. 



The ornithology of these islands, and distribution of the birds 

 amongst the several groups, seem to furnish strong evidence 

 against the supposition that the Azores ever formed a portion of 

 an old continent, which is the theory of Professor Edward 

 Forbes. Were these volcanic rocks the remaining peaks of 

 former continental mountains, should we not expect to find a 

 number of land-birds concentrated upon them, modified perhaps 

 (had sufficient time elapsed) from the species representing 

 them on the present continent of Europe or its adjuncts ? 

 whereas the Chaffinch {Fringilla moreleti) and Bullfinch [Pyr- 

 rhula murina) are the only birds that at all aid this view; and 

 the facts of their isolation and difference from their continental 

 representatives can more easily be accounted for by supposing 

 them to have arrived at a remote period of time through the 

 same cause that now brings stragglers from Europe or North 

 Africa, and that subsequent modification has altered them to what 

 we find them to be at present. This cause I imagine to be, the 

 prevalence of storms. No contrast could perhaps be stronger 

 than between the Azores and the Galapagos as regards the cli- 

 mate each group possesses. Apparently similar in their origin — 

 both the production of a series of volcanic eruptions — and similar, 

 also, to some extent, in their position as regards the continents 

 of Europe and South America, the former are subject to con- 



