Notes on Gran Canaria. 19 



Til the glades of Doramas I obtained my first Blackbird, 

 which is not nearly so common as in Tenerife, and is more 

 shy. Nor have I observed it, as in the latter island, lower 

 than abont 2000 feet, while in Tenerife it is found from the 

 shore up to 4000 feet. Though no doubt specifically iden- 

 tical with our famihar friend, yet there is a tendency to 

 become what some of my friends would term an incipient 

 species, especially in the direction of equalization of the 

 sexes. After examining a very large series in the British 

 Museum and elsewhere, I find no approximation to the 

 male plumage in the Canary female examples which I cannot 

 match elsewhere ; but in the one case it is exceptional, in 

 the other it is constant. 



Proceeding onwards, at the edge of the forest I heard a 

 note, resembling that of a Chaffinch, but more varied and 

 powerful, and ending with a sustained trill. On the ex- 

 tremity of a branch was perched the musician {Fringilla 

 tintillon). In the course of half an hour I secured four 

 specimens, three males and one female. They did not appear 

 to have as yet commenced the duties of nidification. April 

 and May are the usual time for the nesting of this Chaffinch. 

 Unlike the Pipit, the Tintillon has a very limited perpen- 

 dicular range. Neither in Canaria, nor in Tenerife, nor in 

 Gomera did I ever find it lower than 2000 feet, and it is 

 commonest at the edge or in the opens of the forest belt, 

 from 3000 ft. to 4500 ft. in altitude. The call-note, nest, 

 and eggs are identical with those of our Chaffinch, but the 

 eggs run a trifle larger. 



I see that Mr. Sharpe, in his British Museum Catalogue, 

 endeavours to discriminate between the Tintillon of Madeira, 

 Azores, and Canaries, making them three subspecies. On ex- 

 amining, however, the series in the British Museum, I found 

 that the distinctions are scarcely borne out by them ; and 

 my own series presents examples from the Canaries corre- 

 sponding to all three subdivisions in the Catalogue. The 

 frontal band in one of my Azorean specimens is more dis- 

 tinctly marked than in any of the Canarians, but not suf- 

 ficiently so as to necessitate separation ; while, as to the colour 



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