Birds of the Canary Islands. 505 



distinct chestnut band across tlie upper breast. I looked her 

 over well, within two yards. 



I think I got on a little better this year at finding the 

 nests of Cursorius gaUicus, but they certainly are very diffi- 

 cult to discover. This is caused by the perfectly open 

 country _, the bird being of the same colour as the ground 

 and never fljing or betraying uneasiness, and the eggs 

 being exactly like the stones that cover the plain. There 

 is really no nest, the bigger stones being just moved away 

 to make room for the bird to sit on the two eggs. I 

 had promised Mr. Sharpe to get him a pair, with the eggs 

 and ground on which the eggs had been laid, for a case in 

 the Natural History Museum. Two or three days after our 

 arrival a goatherd said he knew of one, and offered to show 

 it to us. It seemed very wonderful how he could walk 

 about three miles over ground, without any land-mark to 

 speak of, to two eggs that he had seen a few days before and 

 thought no more about, never dreaming any one could want 

 them ; however, he took us straight to them. This man did 

 not know, until I spoke to him, that I was after eggs of any 

 kind. I shot the hen, and proceeded to mark out the ground 

 for removing, when the man, wondering what on earth we 

 were at, walked up and put his foot on the two eggs ! ! This 

 was singularly annoying, and we were eight days before we 

 found another nest, and had almost begun to despair of ever 

 getting one. However, eight days after this misfortune I 

 got a nest, eggs, and parent, and also a pair of beautiful 

 little young ; the young are much easier to find than the eggs. 

 The hen only remains at the nest whilst she is sitting, the 

 cocks eitlier go about in little parties or mix with birds which 

 are not breeding. When the young are hatclied, however, 

 both parents care for them, the male being rather shier than 

 the hen. While running about, it is easy to tell the cock 

 from the hen ; he carries himself much higher and seems to 

 have a bigger head ; when shot this difference vanishes. The 

 males breed in their first year, as two I shot were in partly 

 spotted plumage ; nevertheless many do not breed at all, as 

 I saw flocks of from fifteen to forty birds whilst others had 



SER. A I. — VOL. I. 2 L 



