Expedition to the Eastern Canary Islands. 81 



and we never saw any flying in the neighbourhood of the 

 island during the day. If pulled out of their holes these 

 birds seemed very dazed^ but invariably attempted to escape 

 by crawling under stones. In one case^ however^ a bird 

 which we had placed on a rock in the brilliant sunlight 

 waddled to the edge and immediately flew out to sea. 



The local name for this Petrel is '' Perrito.""^ I never 

 heard it called " Tahoce negro/^ as recorded by Mr. Meade- 

 Waldo ; very probably the latter is the name used for the 

 bird in Tenerife, for a considerable diff'erence exists in the 

 local nomenclature of individual species in the various islands. 

 A large series of these little Petrels was obtained together 

 with their eggs^ but all were adult birds, the young having 

 not yet hatched. Montana Clara is the only island on 

 which Ruliveria Inihveri was met with. 



14. Columba livia. — Not very plentiful but several pairs are 

 resident in the lava cliff's on the north-west coast. I should 

 think that they have difl&culty in finding sufficient food. 



15. Larus cachinnans. — So far as I can tell^ the Yellow- 

 legged Herring-Gull does not breed on Montana Clara. 

 It is^ however, very plentiful round the coast, and many 

 birds roosted at night-time on the north-eastern cliff's. 

 Occasionally the fishing-boats put in here to pass the night_, 

 and at such times the Gulls simply swarmed, fighting and 

 screaming for the remains of the fish cleaned by the men. 



L. cachinnans was the only species of Gull met with. 



RoQUE Infierno, or the West Rock. 



While staying on Montafia Clara I arranged to visit on 

 the first possible occasion, the Roque del Oueste, an 

 isolated mass of lava lying almost due north of Montana 

 Clara. Accordingly on June the 11th my boatmen arrived 

 from Graciosa and we set out for the rock. The sail was not 

 the most enjoyable I have had ! We were all soaked to the 

 skin long before we drew near to the Roque Infierno, which 

 has been rightly named indeed ! Over half an hour was spent 



SEU. X. VOL. II. G 



