Expedition to the Eastern Canary Islands. 67 



crevices and behind loose rocks in their vain endeavour to 

 escape from the brilliant light. No nest of any description 

 was attempted by the birds in these caves. 



The islanders catch hundreds of these Shearwaters with 

 the greatest ease^ employing a thin ahiiond rod about four 

 feet in length with a small hook at the end. This they 

 thrust into the holes and crevices, dexterously transfixing 

 the occupant through the pinions of the wing and drawing 

 the unwilling victim to the surface. Nesting-places similar 

 to the one just described are found in many parts of the 

 island. On the north coast very rugged cliffs of black 

 jagged lava are to be found, in the numerous crevices of 

 which these Shearwaters were nesting in large numbers. 



Another colony had chosen a very diffei'ent situation on 

 the plain east of Mt, Amarilla, about a quarter of a mile 

 from the sea. Here the birds were nesting in burrows in 

 the earth, which was so hard that it absolutely resisted our 

 attempts to dig out the occupants with a sharp-pointed 

 spade. I imagine the Shearwaters had excavated these 

 burrows themselves^ as there are no rabbits on Graciosa 

 whose holes they could make use of. I only found one 

 other small colony on Graciosa^ where the birds nested in 

 burrows which likewise were too difficult to excavate. 



Not content M'ith nesting round the coasts, these birds 

 had resorted in numbers to two of the volcanoes. A ^ew 

 nests were found amongst the lumps of loose lava on the 

 summit of Montana Bermeja (550 ft ), but a considerably 

 larger colony was discovered on the eastern slopes of the 

 big central volcano (Montana de las Agujas). Here, at an 

 altitude of 300 to 600 ft,, the face of the crater was honey^ 

 combed with caves^ in almost all of which birds were nesting. 

 As this was the most interesting of all the various sites 

 chosen, I will give a short description of my visit on June 

 the 1st, Two fisher-lads acted as guides, and after a weary 

 climb up 600 feet of loose crumbling lava, we gained the 

 entrance to the largest cave, which measured 6 x 3 f t. At 

 one end of this outer cave a narrow tunnel ran into the 

 heart of the mountain, through which, by lying full length, 



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