Notes on Gran Canaria. 31 



and there a survival in a noble Canary pine. These orchards 

 abounded in song-birds^ the Blackbird, the Robin, and espe- 

 cially the little Blackcap, or " Capirote " as he is called, the 

 favourite songster of the Canarians, while the Chiffchaff 

 was simply everywhere. I never found or saw the black- 

 throated variety of the Blackcap, known from Madeira and 

 described as Sylvia heinekeni. 



I cannot but think that the Robin of the island is at least 

 an incipient species. It is a permanent resident. All the 

 specimens obtained both by Mr. Meade- Waldo and myself 

 in Canaria and Tenerife are of a richer and darker plumage 

 than European birds, and the red of the breast decidedly 

 deeper, while there is the trace of a white ring round the 

 eye. But in examining a series I notice that some Spanish 

 specimens equal the Canarian in intensity of colour. It is 

 curious, however, that in Gomera, where the Robin is very 

 plentiful and we collected many specimens, all without ex- 

 ception correspond exactly in every particular with British 

 birds. But this is not the only instance in which the avi- 

 fauna of the little island of Gromera shows a distinct indi- 

 viduality. In some open ground, on our return next day to 

 Las Palmas, I saw the Rock Sparrow {Fringilla petronia) , 

 now very scarce in the island, and altogether expelled from 

 the towns and villages by that impudent intruder the Spanish 

 Sparrow, which is becoming a perfect nuisance in many 

 places. Happily it has not yet reached Teneriffe, where the 

 Rock Sparrow still utters his ditty unmolested on the eaves 

 and gables of the houses. 



I subsequently explored, more or less carefully, the whole 

 of the rest of the island, and I do not think that much 

 remains to be discovered, unless in the way of occasional 

 stragglers. Contrasting this island with its neighbours, we 

 have a pretty fair idea of the result of cultivation and 

 the destruction of forests. The growing scarcity of water 

 may, indeed, induce the Government to encourage the re- 

 planting of the higher mountain-sides, which cau never have 

 an agricultural value, and to preserve what forests remain in 

 Tenerife and Gomera. 



