LA OLIVA 27 



out very slightly to receive it. The accompanying 

 photograph gives a good idea of the situation in which 

 the egg was placed. Round about were a good many 

 white stones, and growing among these stones was 

 a plant which we found rather common near here, 

 though we never saw it elsewhere in Fuerteventura. 

 Lorenzo pronounced this plant to be tacaronteia, and 

 as no one was in a position to be able to contradict 

 him, I think he felt that for the time being he had 

 distinguished himself. This plant grows also in Tene- 

 rife, and has a large bulb with leaves something like 

 those of the lily-of-the-valley sprouting out from it. 



We saw something of the birds belonging to this nest, 

 as they flew round while I was photographing the egg, 

 and settled some distance away ; they have a powerful, 

 rather heavy-looking flight, and keep the neck stretched 

 straight out when on the wing. Their local name, 

 Avutarda, means a heavy, slow sort of bird. 



It was evident that the Houbaras and the Coursers, 

 the two kinds of bird that I was most anxious to meet 

 with, w r ere only just commencing to nest, which was 

 rather unfortunate, as it is difficult to do anything 

 photographically with the birds themselves unless they 

 are sitting. The only bird we found in that condition 

 was at the end of our visit, not far from Tuineje, a 

 village situated towards the south of the island. Un- 

 fortunately, when I went with my camera to try and 

 obtain photographs of the Houbara, we found that 

 some ravens had been before us, and broken holes into 

 the sides of the eggs. Lorenzo couldn't take the ravens 

 by the scruff of the neck and shake them as he treated 

 the boys in Tenerife, but he growled at the invisible 



