Island of Palrna. 73 



pendicular extension than its ally in the other islands ; for I 

 found it in the pines and shot my last specimen nearBuena- 

 vista, not 500 feet above the sea. The views as we climbed 

 the mountain were magnificent and ever varying. At length 

 we reached the summit of the pass, over 5000 feet above the 

 sea. The laurels extend to the very crest; but there at once all 

 is changed. We are standing on the rim of the Caldera, the 

 mighty caldron, into which we look down, while we can see 

 the eastern slopes to the sea on the other side. The rim is 

 here notched to the depth of about 1000 feet, and has thus 

 afforded a good pass for the mountaineer. The descent 

 within is rapid, and instead of laurel we have scattered pines, 

 which clothe both the slopes of debris and the perpendicular 

 cliffs alike, and we have all the southern tongue of the island 

 spread before us as far as the eye can reach, plainly 

 showing where the lava had once burst through the walls of 

 the crater. We had been keeping a keen look out for the 

 Tit, of which Meade-Waldo had shot the type a few days 

 before, in the laurel, but could find none, till we came to the 

 piues. Here they were soon heard, and he secured several 

 specimens. He has so fully and accurately described this bird, 

 that I can add nothing. Here also I secured a Goldcrest 

 from the top of a pine-tree, which fortunately fell to earth, 

 instead of remaining, as they usually do, near the end of an 

 inaccessible bough. It was exactly like those of Tenerife and 

 Gomera, and quite distinct from the Madeiran bird, but is, in 

 my belief, a thoroughly good species, which has been described 

 by Mr. Seebohm (' Brit. Birds/ vol. i. p. 459) as Regulus 

 teneriffce. It approaches the Firecrest in some particulars, 

 especially in having the black band on the sides of the crest 

 continuous across the forehead, from which the black band 

 is separated by a whitish band ; but it differs from Regulus 

 ignicaplllus in having greyish-white lores like R. cristatus. 

 I have examined large series of R. cristatus from every 

 locality — Japan, Himalayas, Algeria, and Europe — and find 

 no variation in these points, and the distinction holds good 

 in every specimen obtained in the Canaries. 



It is to be regretted that Mr. Seebohm has merely inci- 



