Xotes on Gran Ca/iaria. 17 



Indeed we had seen numbers on the day before fi'om the 

 suburbs of Las Pal mas onwards. The Buzzard was frequentlj"^ 

 to be observed, and I had hardly begun to descend the steep 

 path when I noticed a pair of Falcons on the crest of the 

 cliff on the opposite side of the glen. The male was in the 

 act of treading. By the aid of my field-glasses I scrutinized 

 them very closely. They looked to me of a much lighter 

 russet than our ordinary Peregrine, and I fancied I might 

 have before me Falco barbai'iis. But I afterwards found a 

 pair in the Museum of Las Palmas, shot in this gorge, which 

 were undoubted Peregrines, though of a very reddish hue. 

 At any rate the Peregrine, for which Canary was once famous, 

 is not yet quite extinct. Kestrels here abounded, but their 

 nesting-places were hopelessly out of reach. I shot a male, 

 which, like all those subsequently obtained, was small and 

 very much darker than our English specimens ; the wing 

 is an inch shorter and the bill very much smaller than in 

 European or Asiatic specimens. Its food seems to be almost 

 exclusively lizards. Field-mice are unknown, and the 

 small birds are far too few to maintain the population of 

 Kestrels. 



Arrived at the bottom of the barranco, where is a scanty 

 perennial stream, the most conspicuous bird was the Grey 

 Wagtail, perhaps the most numerous bird of Gran Canaria, 

 encouraged by the number of reservoirs, at each one of 

 which there is sure to b'^ a family of these charming birds, 

 perfectly tame and fearless. By the side of a pool formed 

 by the little stream under a group of trees a number of 

 Wagtails were disporting themselves. In a book recently 

 published on the Canaries, and in which is a very good 

 engraving of this charming spot, it is stated that flocks of 

 Canaries inhabit it, and may be seen drinking at the water's 

 edge ! At any rate the Wagtail has as much yellow on its 

 plumage as the wild Canary. However rich botanically, 

 the barranco did not repay ornithologically, and the Black- 

 cap was the only other species I obtained. My guide, 

 however, informed me that he knew where I might find 

 "Palomo Turquese,'' the Trocaz Pigeon, which he distin- 



SER. VI. VOL. 1. c 



