Expedition to the Eastern Canary Islands. 45 



As we iieared tlie coast the ground became more sandy^ 

 and a few Coursers were seen. We crossed several dry 

 water-courses which appeared like wide cracks in the earth, 

 zigzagging to the sea, and then over rising ground between, 

 hills, from the summit of which we looked down upon a 

 large, absolutely flat plain stretching to the sea. Toston, 

 a tiny village noted for its lime-quarries, is perched on tlie 

 top of the cliffs, and to the north could be made out the 

 fine lava reefs on which we hoped to find the rare Black 

 Oystercatcher [Hamatopus niger meadewaldoi). The camels 

 soon crossed the intervening plain, where more Coursers 

 Avere seen, and I selected our camping ground some way 

 from the village under the shelter of an old Spanish tower 

 and within a stone's throw of the edge of the clifl:. 



Four days were spent in this camp (May 6-10) and a 

 very thorough survey made of the district, especially the 

 coast-line and reefs, of which a short description may be of 

 interest before proceeding to the birds found thereon. 



The main reefs stretch from Toston village to beyond the 

 lighthouse — a distance of some two miles, and are well 

 exposed at low tide, running out horizontally to the coast. 

 They are composed almost entirely of black basaltic lava 

 much worn by the action of the waves. The foreshore is 

 also made up of huge lumps of this lava, often a good stride 

 between each block. Beyond the lava a stretch of hard 

 sand merges into the sand-dunes, with are covered sparingly, 

 but more or less universally, with the same four plants which 

 we met with everywhere. 



In these sandhills many Kentish Plovers were breeding, 

 but I did not discover any Terns here, although it would be 

 hard to imagine a more suitable spot. Larks and Pipits as 

 usual were found in small numbers. The belt of sandhills 

 is succeeded by a wide plain which stretches to a low range 

 of hills, absolutely barren in their entire extent and all 

 curiously rounded and undulating. Few birds were seen on 

 this plain, which was covered with small loose stones and 

 an occasional desert plant, among which Ononis ramosissima 

 Desf. axidi Euphorbia paralias L. were recognised. 



