LA OLIVA 29 



when we were in Fuerteventura, and as they were so 

 common here I did not trouble about them, thinking I 

 should find them on my return to Tenerife, where, 

 unfortunately, I got but little chance at them. 

 The Stone-Curlews are adepts at concealing them- 

 selves, and will often start up into view on the rough 

 ground a few yards ahead, run for a short distance in 

 a very leisurely way, and then stand still, or fly away. 

 The peasants in Fuerteventura call this bird Alcaravan, 

 but in Tenerife it also goes by the name of Pedro 

 Luis, both names being given to it by reason of 

 its peculiar cry. This cry is heard almost exclusively 

 at night time, more especially on moonlight nights, and 

 the wild notes of the Alcaravan might often be heard 

 around the villaofes in Fuerteventura when all else was 

 silent. 



The island contains few birds except those which 

 are not able to avail themselves of its sand-coloured 

 ground as a means of escaping detection ; there are no 

 trees, speaking generally, if we except the palms which 

 in some of the villages surround the water tanks, so 

 that birds which are not of a protective colour are 

 driven to make their homes in the vicinity of the 

 villages, where they find the only available cover in 

 the scattered almond trees, or among the cactus plants. 

 Even the Hoopoes, conspicuous enough at times, as we 

 have shown, combine in the varied colouring of their 

 plumage many of the tints of the desert rocks, tinged 

 as some of these rocks are with orano-e or red-coloured 

 lichen. 



One little bird that could certainly claim protection 

 from the open desert was the Trumpeter Bullfinch, of 



