Notes on Gran Canaria. 29 



oribus : dorso cinerco, nee rufescenti-fusco : fascia, 

 nigra eircum guttur latiore quam in C. rufct. 

 Tarsus long. 18,2 poll. Rostrum a culmine ad imutn "33 



poll., long. '98 poll. 

 The next day I started early with Don Alfonso to explore 

 the Pinas del Pajonal on the S.W. side of the central moun- 

 tain mass, where we might possibly meet with the " Tur- 

 quese." We had to climb by a zigzag path, sometimes a 

 mere niche cut out of the side of the cliff, till we reached the 

 crest of the pass, which opened on to the wide Pinas or Pine- 

 forest. We were standing on a niche in a narrow ridge 

 not 100 yards wide. Nothing could be more startling than 

 the sudden change of scene. Turning round to look at the 

 country we had left we saw a richly cultivated district, with 

 orchards of almond-trees creeping to the very base of the 

 cliffs 1100 feet below us. Before us was spread a wide 

 basin, or rather a valley with a narrow opening at the further 

 end, giving a glimpse of the western ocean ; and the whole 

 basin, from the crest of the enclosing mountain downwards, 

 dotted, rather than covered, with small Canarian pine-trees, 

 and here and there an ancient survivor of the primaeval 

 forest towering like a giant among the Liliputians. 



The Spaniards have recklessly destroyed the forest, chiefly 

 for charcoal, and have not taken the trouble to replant it, 

 leaving only the saplings which twenty years ago were 

 too small for timber. Happily they are thick enough to 

 form a forest in the course of another century if allowed to 

 remain so long. A fine barranco, fed by many tiny rills 

 and cascades from the mountain-sides, drains the basin west- 

 ward. I saw at a glance that my hopes of the Pigeon were 

 gone, as " Turquese ^' does not resort to pines, and cover 

 there was none. But I was surprised to see, at the very 

 summit of the pass, a pair of Tits [Parus teneriffce) flitting 

 almost Creeper-like among the little bushes on the face of 

 the cliff. I secured one of them, the other falling into an 

 inaccessible cranny above our heads. We were here 4300 

 feet above the sea. This was the highest point where I 

 noticed the Titmouse, but it occurs in small numbers at all 



