Birds of the Canary Islands. 435 



the Ladera of El Golfo looks splendid ground for both 

 Columba holli and C. laurivora, but a short scramble about it 

 shows that there is no food-plant, the " vinatigo," asirifia, 

 "'laurel/' and til-tree being almost absent, and the forest 

 consisting almost entirely of tree-heath and " haya," which, 

 however, is the favourite nesting-tree of C. bolli. A man 

 who was accustomed to shoot Rock Doves (C. livia) at a 

 spring told me he had once seen two large Pigeons with red 

 breasts, from which the Rock Doves fled : these may have 

 been a pair of C. laurivora crossed over from Palma. 



In the end of March of this year I paid a visit to the 

 Eastern islands, accompanied by Canon Tristram. At Las 

 Palmas, while waiting for the steamer that was to take us to 

 Lanzarote, I saw several pairs and single males of the 

 Trumpeter Bullfinch {Erythrospiza githaginea) close to the 

 town, and at the back of the new hotel. I do not think that 

 they have been recorded from any part of Grand Canary 

 before, though Canon Tristram concluded that they would 

 be found on the barren tract near Maspalomas Point. 



After having thoroughly explored Fuerteventura, we did 

 not find Lanzarote ornithologically interesting. This island 

 is very carefully cultivated under most difficult circumstances, 

 for there is hardly any water, only that which is caught in 

 tanks after the very slight and uncertain rainfall. This year, 

 however, the inhabitants had had abundant rain, enough, they 

 told us, for ten years. They must be easily satisfied, for I 

 thought the whole place, with the exception of the valley of 

 Haria, had a most burnt-up appearance ; they had, however, 

 cultivated a splendid crop of onions, which long files of camels 

 were bringing into the port of Arrecife for export to Cuba. 

 The people of Lanzarote are remarkably industrious in com- 

 parison with the rest of the Canarians, and we found them 

 obliging and kind throughout the island. The birds of 

 Lanzarote appear to be, as would be expected, the same as 

 those of Fuerteventura, with two differences. I do not 

 believe that the Fuerteventura Chat (Pratincola dacotite) 

 occurs there, we kept the most lively look-out in all the 

 likely places and never saw one j while in Lanzarote exists 



