Birds of the Canary Islands. 5 



winter; but this was probably owing to their showing them- 

 selves more. In May I have seen as many as ten or twelve on 

 the wing in an evening. A small piece of turf under some chest- 

 nut trees was a favourite playing-groundj and five or six would 

 sometimes be strutting about on it at the same time. I have 

 had them alight within two yards of me^ although I was 

 sitting quite exposed ; they were all rather small birds. The 

 only evidence of any migration was three or four seen in a 

 barrancOj not more than 1000 feet above the sea. 



I saw no Herring Gull except the yellow-legged Larus 

 cach'mnans. Bulwer's Petrel I never shot^ but saw two or 

 three off the coast of Tenerife when on my way to Gomera. 

 Wilson's Petrel [Oceanites oceanicus) also occurs. Three 

 Cinereous Shearwaters {Puffinus kuhli) brought to me alive 

 by some boys refused to fly away, although absolutely unin- 

 jured. If thrown up they dropped like stones, and even 

 when left out all day and night on a parapet, it was not 

 until the second night that two of them disappeared ; the 

 other had to be turned on to the sea, when it went off all 

 right. 



I started with a friend for my first visit to Gomera on 

 Feb. 6th, riding across Tenerife by the valley of Santiago, 

 and embarking in a schooner which we had ordered to meet 

 us at San Juan, below Guia. The schooner was two days 

 late, and we did not land at San Sebastian, the port of 

 Gomera, until the morning of the 10th. The distance be- 

 tween the islands is only some fifteen miles, but the frequent 

 calms make the journey of most uncertain length. The 

 principal object of my visit on this occasion was to obtain 

 specimens of Columba laurivora, and if possible to get some 

 young ones alive. Nothing less likely for Wood Pigeons 

 than the aspect of the country as seen from San Sebastian 

 can well be imagined ; not a tree, except a few palms, to be 

 seen, barren mountains intercepted by very deep barrancos 

 everywhere. On the beach were flocks of Kentish Plovers 

 and a few Turnstones, while Yellow-legged Herring Gulls, 

 Ravens, and Egyptian Vultures, with Goldfinches, Rock 

 Sparrows, Berthelot's Pipits, and Corn Buntings, were the 



