Oniithuhn/ical Notes un Grayi Canaria. 13 



the Pallid Swift were nesting in a low sandstone eliff, in 

 holes that had the appearance of Sand-Martins^ holes, only 

 larger. 



Our homeward voyage was very different to our outward, 

 for after beating against a high headwind for two days, we 

 had to anchor near the lighthouse on the point of Jandia, 

 and wait for a fairer wind and less of it. This, though very 

 tedious, was the means of my obtaining a bird that I had 

 hoped to get, but had not seen before (I had, however, been 

 told of its existence by the islanders), the Black Oyster- 

 catcher {Hcematopus capensis). Whether this species breeds 

 in Fuerteventura or no, I cannot say, but I was assured it 

 did so on the north coast and on the islands of Lanzarote 

 and Graciosa, and the bird I shot was an old female with 

 well-developed eggs. 



Between the high mountains of Jandia and the lighthouse 

 runs a low headland some four or five miles long by one or 

 two wide, all of sand, slightly raised above sea-level, and 

 covered, when we were there, with a very sweet-scented dwarf 

 stock. All the Waders were here in numbers, and I saw a 

 small flock of Sand Grouse and a few Coursers, but the latter 

 were not breeding here. Ospreys were continually in sight, 

 sometimes three or four on the wing together. My delay 

 enabled me to lay in a ^ood store of lizards for my Shrike, 

 which was thriving, and apparently the only passenger on 

 board who did not find the journey irksome. After waiting 

 here for two days the weather improved somewhat, and we beat 

 across to Grand Canary, arriving five days after leaving 

 Puerto Cabras, the distance between the islands being fifty- 

 four miles. 



II. — Ornithological Notes on the Island of Gran Canaria. 

 By H. B. Tristram, D.D., F.R.S. 



Driven by the bitter blasts of our north-eastern coast to 

 seek a holiday under more sunny skies during the three 

 spring montiis of the present year, the Canary Islands were 



