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



A glance at the foregoing list at once shows its entirely 

 European stamp. Every species, except Thalassidroma wilsoni, 

 an oceanic wanderer of the North-western Atlantic, is to be 

 found in Europe, or in the outlying provinces of the European 

 fauna — North Africa, the Madeiras, and Canaries. From this 

 generalization two more exceptions must be made, — one in the 

 case of the Chaffinch, which has its nearest and very close ally in 

 the Fringilla tintillon of the Madeiras and Canaries; and the Bull- 

 finch, to which Pyrrhula europcea or P. coccinea must be consi- 

 dered most nearly affined. Both these species seem peculiar to the 

 group. As regards the local peculiarities of Azorean birds, there 

 IS certainly a tendency among them to vary, more or less, from 

 their continental representatives. This is especially shown 

 by the former always having darker plumage and stronger bills 

 and legs. In some cases the variation is not greater than may 

 be observed in extreme examples from a large series of continental 

 specimens of the same species ; in others it becomes more re- 

 markable, and in Fringilla moreleti and Pyrrhula murina the 

 exaggeration is carried to such an extent that it is impossible to 

 speak of them but as good species. 



The list further shows the gradual falling off in the number 

 of species inhabiting each group of the archipelago as we pro- 

 ceed westward aud away from the Old World. Before making 

 this comparison, it seems necessary to take into consideration 

 what species should properly be included. I think that when 

 we find birds having in most places habits so essentially migra- 

 tory, as the Quail, Woodcock, and Snipe, here becoming resi- 

 dent throughout the year, and losing their wandering instincts 

 from the necessity of their situation, we may fairly except from 

 our calculation the Gulls, Terns, and Petrels, for which these 

 islands simply afford a resting-place in their wanderings, and a 

 resort during the breeding-season. All others would appear, I 

 think, to have arrived involuntarily, having been blown over by 

 storms, or through some other such agency. The Eastern group 

 has forty species, the Central thirty-six, and the Western 

 twenty-nine ; so that we have a gradual diminution of the num- 

 ber of species as we proceed westward from the Palsearctic fauna. 

 This seems clearly to show that storms or other external causes 



