52 SOME 15IRDS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS 



ble for my safe return to Tenerife, and although there 

 was no possible danger, he was no doubt so well 

 a: .^uainted with these peculiar formations that he knew, 

 had I slipped, I should not have stopped until I had 

 reached the bottom of the deep cone-shaped hollow, to 

 climb up the shelving sides of which would have been 

 well-nigh impossible. 



The photographs were not a great success, as I had 

 to place the camera almost within the cave itself in 

 order to obtain them. I took the eofcrs, as I thought 

 it was the only Vulture's nest I was ever likely to get 

 up to, and then we descended and had some lunch at 

 the foot of the mountain, both birds wheeling high in 

 the air and watching us off the premises before returning 

 to the nesting site. 



On our way home we were shown a Houbara's nest, 

 the eggs, two in number, being of the same olive-green 

 colour as before ; one of them was of a very narrow, 

 oblong shape, and scarcely marked at all. There was 

 no nest, properly speaking, the eggs lying in a very 

 sliofht hollow, a small bush a foot or so in height 

 growing close to them and acting somewhat as a foil 

 to the eye, inasmuch as it was of about the same colour 

 as the eggs. There was also a sprinkling of vegeta- 

 tion round about. I never saw the bird at all, though 

 I waited for some time ; but another day, while I was 

 watching some Coursers, a Houbara ran by me within 

 about thirty yards ; it moved very quickly, keeping its 

 long neck perpendicular. 



We found two more Coursers' nests during our stay 

 on the island, one pair of eggs having distinct zones 

 round the smaller ends, while in all the other eggs 

 that we saw the markings were evenly distributed. 



