5O SOME BIRDS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS 



and waited. " Could nothing be done without Zacha- 

 riah ? " I asked Lorenzo, who was rolling a cigarette and 

 preparing to enjoy himself in the hot sun. He made 

 no reply, but hunched himself up and shot out his 

 under lip, which after all expressed more than he could 

 have put into a few words. 



In the possessor of such a name I naturally expected 

 to see some hoary patriarch of the desert, weighed 

 down by years, and still more so by a lifelong sojourn 

 under a name so ponderous ; judge of my surprise, 

 therefore, when the mellow tinkle of a bell caused us 

 to look round, and there we saw a small boy, clad in 

 white, make his appearance leisurely over the side of 

 the stony barranco, followed by his flock of goats. 

 This was Zachariah, and as he greeted us our guide 

 spoke to him and took his place, while Zachariah ex- 

 pressed himself ready to show us the nest of the Guirre. 

 We had still some distance to go when we came in 

 sight of a steep volcanic mountain standing out by 

 itself, a sight common enough in these islands. As we 

 drew near to this mountain we saw one of the birds 

 whose nest we had come to seek sailing majestically 

 round and round in widening circles ; doubtless he had 

 come out to reconnoitre, his keen eyes having sighted 

 us from afar. This bird presents a very different 

 appearance in the air to what it does at close quar- 

 ters, when it looks a ragged and ugly creature. In the 

 distance, as it gradually rose higher and higher, its 

 black and white plumage showed in relief against the 

 background of blue sky. 



We had to go round to the far side of the mountain 

 in order to make the ascent, as it was impossible to 



