428 Captain S. G. Reid on the 



nearly all those that are shot being obtained by lying in wait 

 for them at the water. 



From Baeza^s account, C. Imirivora is far more plentiful, 

 relatively speaking, in Gomera, but there the woods are 

 much more extensive and suited to their habits. I do not 

 think it likely that the Madeiran form, C trocaz, is ever 

 found in the Canaries ; certainly not in the western islands, 

 Teneriffe, Gomera, Palma, and Hierro. 



Before leaving the Columbidai, I may mention that the 

 Rock Dove, C. livia, is very common in Teneriffe, frequenting 

 the inland precipices as well as the rocks of the coast. Of 

 the species of Turtle Dove visiting the island, I hope to have 

 more to say later on. 



To pass to a very different family, the Falconidse, I was at 

 once struck, on my arrival, as every naturalist must inevitably 

 be, by the numbers of raptorial birds constantly in sight in 

 Teneriffe. These, on examination, resolved themselves into 

 five species, viz. : — Neophron percnopterus, Milvus ictinus, 

 Buteo vulgaris, Accipiter nisus, and Falco tinnunculus. I 

 have little to add to Mr. Godman's excellent account of these 

 birds (Ibis, 1872, pp. lGi-167), except in the case of the 

 Buzzard, which is somewhat unaccountably B. vulgaris, and 

 not B. desertorum as it ought to be with due respect to geo- 

 graphical position. This species, the ^' Aguililla ^^ of the 

 islanders, is very common and breeds in the cliffs which form 

 the abrupt termination of the lava-slopes immediately above 

 the coast-line, as well as in the precipices of the crater-walls 

 more inland. The only note I made worthy of record con- 

 cerning it is that I witnessed the union of a pair near Agua 

 mansa, the male circling round and suddenly descending upon 

 the female, which was perched on the summit of a high 

 isolated stack of rock in apparent ignorance of his presence, 

 and Avithin 200 yards of our party. 



The Kestrel positively swarms, and must have a hard 

 struggle for life, for I do not think there are any rats or mice 

 outside the towns, and the lizards are remarkably war3^ 

 It is said to prey much on small birds; but I think the 

 Sparrow-hawk, which is not uncommon, is the culprit in 



