Birds obtained at Madeira. 443 



possible to land for anyone not born a native fisherman. 

 The little Deserta, which lies to the north, is flat-topped and 

 about 1000 feet high, and only to be ascended, we believe, 

 by means of ropes ; while the middle Deserta, which is the 

 most southern, rises in wild peaks, and is said to be quite 

 inaccessible. By the kind invitation of some of our Madeira 

 friends, who had made up a party to shoot goats on Deserta 

 Grande, we joined their expedition, and started about 2 o'clock 

 on the morning of the 4th of May, and, both wind and sea 

 being favourable, landed on the island without difficulty 

 about 6 o'clock. The landing-place, the only one on the 

 island, is merely a table of rock, covered with huge blocks of 

 loose stone, quite unapproachable in rough weather; the 

 rest of the island rises sheer up from the sea to a height of 

 from one to two thousand feet. The ascent to the higher 

 level is just above the place where one lands, and is a narrow 

 steep zigzag path up a nearly perpendicular face ; but the 

 climb is simple compared with the descent, which in parts 

 is far from pleasant, the loose volcanic earth and stones 

 giving way at every step, and often going unpleasantly near 

 the heads of those in front. On gaining the summit one 

 emerges into a valley, which furrows the centre of the island, 

 and is covered with rough grass and white poppies, scattered 

 stones and boulders. Among these we soon unearthed several 

 pairs of Bulwer's Petrel, which, however, had not then begun to 

 breed. Underneath some of the stones we caught a number 

 of specimens of the great black Tarantula (Lycosa niyra) 

 peculiar to the Desertas. We may remark that there is no 

 water whatever on the islands, and my friends had to bring 

 all their drinking-water with them in barrels, which were 

 carried up by the fishermen employed to drive the goats. 

 These latter, now perfectly wild, together with numerous 

 rabbits and black cats, are the only quadrupeds, and are the 

 descendants of animals introduced when the island was in- 

 habited by Portuguese fishermen. The only shelter on the 

 whole place consists of two small clumps of stone-pine near the 

 middle of the island, and here we found Canaries and Linnets 

 in plenty, also a Redstart and a pair or two of Golden Orioles : 



