On the Birds of the Canary Islands. 429 



XLIIL— Further Notes on the Birds of the Canary Islands. 

 By E. G. Meade-Waldo. 



(Plate XIII.) 



I am afraid that I have much less to relate of these islands, 

 ornithologically, this time thau in my previous papers, having 

 recently explored only the little island of Hierro, which is 

 but a small field, and Lanzarote, that resembles the worst 

 parts (for birds) of Fuerteventura. 



Tenerife was visited this spring on April 25th by a great 

 influx of migrants ; the oldest inhabitant had never seen 

 anything like it. There was no gale of wind or anything to 

 account for it, the migration being only preceded by two or 

 three days of dull steamy heat. Chelidon urbica and 

 Hirundo rustica were in thousands ; Cotite riparia was 

 very numerous. The Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula) was 

 m small parties of four or five individuals, frequenting the 

 orange and loquat trees. When disturbed in these they 

 would dart away into the tops of the tallest plane trees, 

 where it was almost impossible to see them. A small dark 

 form of the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) was very numerous, as 

 was also the Bee-eater {Merops apiaster). The Pied Fly- 

 catcher {Muscicapa atricapilla) occurred at Laguna, as did 

 also Merops persica ; and Coots [Fulica atra) and Moorhens 

 {Gallinula chloropus) were common. I have heard, since I 

 left, that a gentleman at Tacaronte has some living Purple 

 Gallinules {Porphyrio ?) that were caught by the country- 

 people at the same time. Red-footed Falcons (Falco vesper- 

 tinus) were not uncommon, and were shamefully bullied by 

 the Common Kestrels. Nearly all the common Waders 

 were in large numbers, except the Knot ; Curlew Sandpipers 

 {Tringa subarquata) in nearly full breeding-plumage and 

 Greenshanks (Totanus glottis) being especially numerous, and 

 frequenting the tanks, not the shore. Common Herons were 

 also exceedingly numerous and absurdly tame. By the 

 4th of May I do not think there was left a single example 

 out of this vast number of birds, all having gone away on the 

 night of the 3rd. 



SER. VI. — VOL. II. 2i 



