tg2o.] Birds of the Canary Islands. 34o 



Pyrrhulauda modesta. Fiiiscli^s Lark. 



Ill the J.F. O. 1864, p. 412, Otto Fiiiscli described a bird 

 as Pijrrlmlauda modesta ubich be said eaiiic I'rom tlie 

 Cauary Ishuids. It was descrilied i'roiu a solitaiy female 

 example and at tbe time evoked considerable discussion. 

 Finscb compai-ed it with F. nigriceps Gould and with 

 P. nielanauchen Cab. 



Cabauis (J. f, O. 1868, p. 219) believed that P. modesta 

 was the female of P. nhjriceps. 



Finsch, in answer to this, wrote (Trans. Zool. Soc. vii. 

 ]). 275) that the female skin which be described as 

 P. modesta was more closely allied to P. melanauchen than 

 to P. ni(/riceps. 



Godman (Ibis^ 1872, p. 224) pointed out that the bird may 

 not have come from the Canaries in the first instance. 

 Finscb gave no evidence in support of tins. 



Sharpe (Cat. Birds, xiii. p. 651) remarks in a footnote /3 

 that he was unacquainted with the bird. 



Whatever species this bird may subsequently turn out 

 to have been, it certainly did not come from the Canary 

 Islands. The name of tbe collector is not given by anv 

 of the authorities who bandied the bird. As a species of 

 Pi/rrhulauda inhabits the Cape Verde Islands (P. niyricepi), 

 it is very probable that this is the leal locality from which 

 the skin of P. modesta Finsch originally came. 



Loxia curvirostra. Crossbill. 



Busto is the first to mention this bird (Topografia medica, 

 1864, p. 104). 



Cabrera (Catalogo, 1893, p. 51) includes it on Busto's 

 authority. 



Fringilla coelebs spodiogenys. Tunisian Chaffinch. 



First included by Mompo (Catalogo Aves Tenerife, 1876, 

 p. 250), obviously thus naming the resident Chaftiuch 

 incorrectly. 



Cabrera has himself confused the Chaffinches badly 



