762 Mr. B. A. Baunermun on the [Ibis, 



add that it turns up from time to time in the western 

 islands, but is extremely common in Fuerteventura and 

 Lanzarote (Orn. Canarienne, p. 42). 



From BoUe (J. f. O. 1855, p. 177) we learn that S. 

 hirundo are observed on the coast of Fuerteventura and 

 Lanzarote, seldom on the western islands, but in this he was 

 mistaken, for in 1857 he published a really good account of 

 the breeding grounds of this Tern at Maspalomas in Gran 

 Canaria, to which further reference should be made (J. f. 0. 

 1857, pp. 311-344). Bolle here says that his visit took place 

 ill May, and he further mentions "an extraordinary big 

 colony at Corralejo in Fuerteventura" (/. c. p. 343). 



Meade-AValdo was of opinion that tlie Common Tern 

 (between 1887 and 1891) was a summer visitor to all the 

 islands, the birds spending the winter in the eastern islands 

 (Ibis, 1893, p. 206). The latter part of this statement is not 

 borne out by Polatzek's observations, who wrote (Orn. Jahrb. 

 1909, p. 22) : — ''The Tern conies in spring and leaves in 

 autumn, and breeds or has bred in Tenerife and Gran 

 Canaria.^' On April 10, 1905, Polatzek visited the JMas- 

 palomas breeding-ground but saw no Terns, and concluded 

 that they had not yet arrived from their winter quarters. 

 So far as I could learn, when I visited Maspalomas in 

 February 1912, the Terns had quite ceased to breed in the 

 district (Ibis, 1912, p. 577), and this can onl^^ be due to the 

 systematic way in which the short-sighted natives plundered 

 their nests, for the district has ajiparently not changed a 

 whit since BoUe's day. 



When I last visited the eastern islands in May and June 

 in 1913, our route took us close to Corralejo, but we saw 

 nothing of the colony which Bolie mentions, nor did we 

 meet with Terns in aii}'^ of the large or small islands — almost 

 conclusive proof that they have ceased to breed there. The 

 fishermen knew the '' Garajao ' well, and it is probable that 

 it is S. hirundu, which acccording to their statements visits 

 the islands in summer when the " sardinas " are plentiful 

 (Ibis, 1914, p. 286). I saw a stuffed example in Lanzarote 

 in the Gonzalez collection from that island (Ibis, 1914, 

 p. 63). 



