1920.] Birds of the Canary Islands. 339 



I know that Gallinules are occasionally shipped in crates 

 to the Canary ports. In fact, my mother-in-law kept four 

 imported Gallinules near Las Palmas, in the chicken-run 

 in 1911-12. These were imported fiom Dakar and belonged 

 to another species, P. porphyr'io Linn. Eventually one of 

 these birds escaped, and I myself saw it fly off towards the 

 golf links; the other three were brouglit to England and 

 are now living in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, 

 where I understand they have bred. Cabrera's bird may 

 quite possibly liave been an '' escape.'^ 



Range. The Purple Gallinule (P. aernleus) inhabits the 

 countries boi'dering the Mediterranean from Portugal and 

 Morocco to Sicily. 1\ porphyrio inhabits the greater part 

 of Africa, and if either race occurs in the Canaries it is 

 probably this form. 



Family Columbid^. 



Columba palumbiis. Wood-Pigeon. 



Cabrera mentions tlie Wood-Pigeon in his list as an 

 occasional, but not very frequent, migrant, and notes that in 

 some years it is only to be met with in the mountains of 

 Aguirre, near Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Catalogo, p. 52) ; he 

 says that it is cited by Berthelot, but I can find no mention 

 of it in bis book. Also by Busto and Mompo, but as the 

 pigeons of the Canaries were then imperfectly known no 

 reliance can be placed on these records. 



Runye. The typical Wood- Pigeon inhabits Europe, and 

 ranges to noith-west Africa. Birds from the Azores [Coluniba 

 palumhus azuricu) have been regarded as separable. It is 

 possible that chance stragglers from that group of islands 

 have occurred in the Canaries. 



Columba trocaz. Madeiran Pigeon. 



Coluniba trocaz Heineken in Brewster's Edinbuigh Journal 

 Sci. 1829, p. 230— Type locality : Madeira. 



This Pigeon is said by Cabrera (Catalogo, p. 53) to arrive 

 only on rare occasions ['^ aunqae vara ve~'^) in the Canaries. 



Webb & Berthelot (Orn. Canarienne, p. 26), though 



SER. XI. VOL. II. 2 \ 



