566 Mr. T>. A. Banuerman on the [Ibis, 



breeding at tliis time of year on the coast. To liuman 

 agency inay be put down the migration (if not the extermina- 

 tion) of Coltvmba holJel from (iran ( *anaria by the destrnction 

 of the laurel forests, a sad fact wliich has already been 

 chronicled earlier in this paper. The drying np of the lake 

 at Lagnna has enormously influenced the migrations of the 

 duck family ; wliile tlic reclaiming of the Laguna plateau, 

 once much more of a "swamp'' than can possibly be 

 imagined now, has had the same effect on the Rails and 

 Herons and other marsh-loving species. 



If the pine forests of Tenerife and CJran Canaria suffer 

 the same fate as the laurel in Gran Canaria we shall either 

 see the total extermination of the beautiful Blue Chaffinches, 

 not to speak of the Woodpeckers, or else happily their 

 migration to tlie island of Palma_, where the pines are in le>s 

 danger of total destruction. 



Should the evergreen forests of the Canaries be destroyed 

 in genci'ations to come through short-sighted human agency, 

 tlien the climate of these islands will itself change remark- 

 ably, and who can tell what disastrous effects this may have 

 on the bird population. Birds which have lived for centuries 

 in the islands may then be compelled to migrate^ faced by 

 the destruction of their favourite food, nesting-sites, or 

 even cover itself. 



I have hardly alluded to interinigration between the actual 

 islands which make up the Canary Archipelago. Evidence 

 in favour of this taking ])lace is extremely scanty, ami 

 although certain islands — notably Fuerteventura and Lanza- 

 rote, Tenerife and Gomera — are situated very close to one 

 another, yet it is remarkable what little communication 

 appears to take place between them. We know that the 

 Bustard very seldom passes from Fuerteventura to Lanzarote, 

 and even more rarely crosses to the south-eastern plains of 

 Gran Canaria, where, however, the Courser is now a 

 lireeding bird, as it is in the south of Tenerife : obviously, 

 with the Trumpeter Bull finch;, it has extended its range 

 from the eastern islands. 



The Sand-Grouse has likewise been known to occur in 



