1866. | Teneriffe. 9 
feathers, &c.; it lays from four to six pale-blue eggs, and some- 
times hatches six times in a season. It pairs in February, and 
moults in August and September. I was surprised to find that 
each flock has a different song; at first I thought that I had been 
mistaken, but the natives confirmed my observation. The note is 
between that of the skylark and nightingale. The natives assert 
that it is very difficult to rear, and generally dies in a couple of 
years if kept in a cage, though they do not appear to suffer from 
confinement, as they commence singing directly they are caged. 
There is another indigenous linnet (Mringilla teydensis) which 
I have seen at the foot of the Peak; the tinto negro is said to be 
peculiar to the island, but it is found also in the island of Madeira. 
Hawks, kites, the red-legged partridge, and other species of 
Tetraonide are numerous. 
The fish are of considerable variety. From its peculiar position 
the island is visited by many migratory shoals, and its fauna thus 
combines all the fishes of the coast of Africa, of the Mediterranean, 
and of the West Indies. The bream is found in large numbers 
between the coast of Africa and the Canaries, and when salted 
forms a considerable article of export. The tunny is of large size, 
and is esteemed when pickled. Some varieties of the Cephalopoda, 
particularly the Octopus, are eaten by the lower orders, and con- 
sidered a luxury. Another sort, commonly known as the rock- 
squid, has a body not larger than a man’s fist, yet its arms are four 
feet long. 
As soon as I was strong enough to support much fatigue, I 
determined to visit the top of the Peak, or “ Teyde,” as the natives 
formerly called it. My native friends begged me not to make the 
attempt, az the cold at that time of the year would be insupportable. 
But I considered such an opinion erroneous ; I had made repeated 
excursions on foot to an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet above the 
sea, and once to 8,000 feet, when I suffered more from enormous 
radiation than from cold. In September the temperature in the 
shade, at 8,000 feet, was 40° F., while the black-bulb thermometer 
rose to 196°, or close to boiling point at that elevation. 
The inhabitants are supplied with ice (or rather snow) by men 
who go up to the foot of the Peak for it during the winter months; 
and in the summer, to the Cueva de Hielo, zce-cave, which is 3,281 
feet higher up. From the nature of their employment, I thought 
they would be the best men to accompany me, therefore I engaged 
the head man and his sons. We got up without danger to the 
Cueva de Hielo, when they refused to proceed any farther, under 
the plea that we could not pass the night on the snow without a 
tent or any extra clothing, therefore I was reluctantly obliged to 
return. 
In February, I agreed with a couple of men to accompany me 
