Migratory Birds of Madeira and the Canaries. 171 



I found the Swallow breeding abundantly in Madeira and Ca- 

 naries, though both Webb and Berthelot, and Bolle, say it only 

 occurs on passage in the Canaries. Vernon Harcourt records it 

 amongst his list of stragglers in Madeira ; but, the year I was 

 there, there were numbers about St. Anna, on the north side, in 

 June. I cannot say whether it is stationary in Madeira and has 

 been overlooked; but in Teneriflfe I was told it arrived soon 

 after the Swift ; these latter birds, however, are not migratory 

 in Madeira. 



19. fHiRUNDO URBiCA, Linn. 



Hirundo urhica, Bolle, J. fiir Orn. 1854, p. 460; Vern. Hare. 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat Hist. ser. 2, 1855, xv. p. 437. 



This species is not recorded as a resident by other observers, 

 and perhaps is only accidental ; but as I saw a pair that had a 

 nest at St. Anna in Madeira, I include it. I did not meet with 

 it in the Canaries or elsewhere. Bolle says he saw swarms of 

 them at Oliva, in Fuerteventura, in April 1852. He remarks 

 that they disappeared as quickly as they came. 



20. MusciCAPA ATRiCAPiLLA, Linn. 



Muscicapa atricopilla, W. & B. Orn. Can. p. 11 ; Bolle, J. 

 fiir Orn. 1854, p. 452. 



This bird is admitted into the Canarian list on the authority 

 of Webb and Berthelot, who give as its habitat the island of 

 Tenei'ifFe, w'here, however, I never met with it. 



21. Lanius , sp.? 



Lanius excuhitor, Linn. ; W. & B. Orn. Can. p. 10. ; Bolle, 

 J. fiir Orn. 1854, p. 452. 



Lanius meridionalis ; Bolle, J. fiir Orn. 1857, p. 274. 



A Shrike is not unfrequent near the shore in the Canaries ; 

 Bolle says it builds in the Euphorbia canariensis, and that 

 the inhabitants encourage it, as it feeds upon the Gekko, an 

 object of fear amongst the natives, who believe it to be poison- 

 ous. I did not procure specimens, so cannot say whether Bolle 

 is right in his second paper in ascribing it to L. meridionalis 

 instead of L. excuhitor. Sharpe and Dresser (Birds of Europe) 

 think the species will prove to be L. algeriensis. 



