1919-] Birds of the ('anary Islands. 105 



Petronia petronia madeirensis. Madcirau liock-Spurrow. 

 Petrunia pdronia madeirtnds Erlanger, Jourii. fiir Orii. 

 1899, |). 482, [)1. xiii. fig. 4— Type locality : Madeira. 

 A Resident subspecies. 

 Hub. in Archipelago. 



Western Group : Graii Cauuria, Teiicriie, Talma, 

 Gomcva, Ilierro. 

 Range beyond the Archipelago. 

 Madeira. 



Montifringilla nivalis nivalis. The Siiow-Pinch. 



Fringilla nivalis Linu. Syst. Nat. 12tli ed. 17GG, p. 321 — 

 Type locality : America, err ore ; Switzerland accepted. 



A Rare Visitor to the Canary Islands. 



There is only one apparently genuine record of the Snow- 

 Finch from the Archipelago. Moquin-Tandon, Webb, and 

 Berthelot (Orn. Canarienne, 1841, p. 22) note that a specimen 

 was shot at Orotava in Tenerife by Mr. A. Diston, and 

 although the skin seems to have disapjjeared, we have no 

 valid reason to doubt the accuracy of this record. It is, 

 however, a very remarkable occurrence. Webb and Berthelot 

 undoubtedly mean the Snow-Much and not the Snow- 

 Bunting, as they give the original reference "Fringilla nivalis 

 Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 321/^ ami also quote '^ Le Pinson de 

 neige on Niverollc, Ikift". Ois. iv. pag. 136. '' They also give 

 a short description of both the bird, nest and egg. Of its 

 occurrence in the Canary Archipelago they remark, " De 

 passage accidcntel, tue une seule fois, a TOrotava par 

 M. A. Diston." 



Webb and Berthelot^s record is quoted by both Cabrera 

 and by Polatzek, Cabrera erroneously stating (Catalogo, 

 p. 50) that he had obtained an example himself from Punta 

 del Hidalgo, whereas in reality this bird was the Snow- 

 Bunting, as pointed out by von Thanner (Nov. Zool. 1904, 

 p. 431) and Polatzek (Orn. Jahrb. 1909, p. 127). 



Range. The Snow-Finch inhabits the high Alps, the 

 Pyrenees, Apennines, and the Sierra Nevada in southern 

 Spain. 



