432 Captain S. G. Reid on the 



the sounds " chip-cheep-cheep-chip-cheep," &c. ; and wlien 

 the breeding-season arrived, and I was enabled to examine 

 the nest and eggs, I was still more at fault, for the nests 

 were generally four or five feet from the ground, the entrance- 

 hole being large and near the top, the eggs being spotted 

 with pale red, like those of P. trochiJus. My specimens, 

 however, have been submitted to several of the highest 

 English authorities, and there is no doubt that the bird is 

 true P. ri(fus, its notes and nesting-habits perhaps modified 

 by its remote insular position. 



I observed the Sardinian Warbler [Sylvia melanocephald) in 

 the hotel garden at Orotava, and found the Spectacled Warbler 

 {S. conspiciUata) extremely common in the coast-region, 

 though absent above in the forest. My friend Major Loyd 

 and I discovered many nests of the latter in the shallow 

 scrub-covered ravines winding about among the cultivated 

 fields to the eastward of Orotava. Five eggs were the usual 

 complement, the bird sitting very close, even before incuba- 

 tion had commenced. 



The Blackcap (*S^. atricapilla) is common in the cultivated 

 land, and was a great feature in the hotel garden at Orotava. 

 Its delightful song was constantly heard from the shady 

 recesses of the thickest trees, and it was a general favoiirite. I 

 never heard of the peculiar variety with the black neck and 

 shoulders found in Madeira, nor do I believe it occurs in the 

 Canaries. The " Capirote,^' as it is called, is apparently a 

 late breeder, for I did not come across a nest up to the time 

 of my dejjarture ; but Don F. del Hoyo has since sent me 

 specimens of the eggs, which are exactly like those found in 

 England. At Mercedes, near Laguna, we noticed oranges on 

 the trees, the inside of which had been completely and neatly 

 removed through a large hole at the top. This, Ave were 

 assured by our " arrieros,^' was the work of the " Capirote,'^ 

 and we afterwards saw, in Laguna, a ripe orange fastened to 

 the bars of a cage containing one of these birds. 



I failed to meet with the Whitethroat and the Subalpine 

 Warbler in any of my rambles, although, according to 

 Berthelot and others, they occur in Teneriffe. I was equally 



