of the Chiffchajf and JVilloiv- Warbler. 307 



at greater lengtli in a desultory manner, though also in mono- 

 syllables^ the sounds ' chip-cheep-cheep-cliip-cheep,' &c. . . . 



" Nests generally 4 or 5 feet above the ground, eggs 

 spotted pale red like ' truchilus '...." 



In 1889 Canon Tristram, after a visit with Mr. Meade- 

 Waldo to the Canary Islands in April and May, wrote '^ 

 confirming Reid's field-observations for some of the other 

 Canary Islands as well as Tenerife (but without noticing the 

 egg peculiarity), and added that the bird was a "constant 

 resident, not even migrating up and down the hills." 

 Tristram further recognised and described certain pecu- 

 liarities in colour and form, and following the (British) 

 general practice of the period accorded the bird specific rank 

 as P.fortunatus. 



Since those days, thanks to other writers, the bird's 

 status has become well known ; it is widely recognised as a 

 subspecies of the typical P. c. coUybita, under the name of 

 ^'P,c. canariensis Hartwig," and Dr. Hartert gives a full 

 description of it in his Vog. pal. Fauna, briefly thus : — 



Compared with typical P. c. colly bita. 

 Form. — Smaller size, much darker, olive-brown upper- 

 parts, also much browner under-parts. 

 Wing broader, shorter, less pointed, more rounded. 

 Habits. — Different song, of more than two notes, not at all 

 like our Chiffchaft's call-note t^ harsher and shriller. 

 Nest generally placed higher. 



Eggs generally four, white, wdth brownish or reddish 

 freckles and dots inclined to run a little larger. 

 Habitat. — The western Canary Islands, where it is 

 resident %. 



I may say that in three specimens of P. c. canariensis 

 obtained by Miss Jackson in Tenerife in April 1913, besides 



* Tristram, ' Ibis,' 1889, p. 21 ; Meade- Waldo, 'Ibis,' 1889, p. 6. 



t The Gibraltar birds had tlie typical soft call-note. 



J Note. — Dr. Hartert also describes a further subspecies (P. c. cxsul) 

 from Lanzarote, oue of the eastern Canary IsLauds ; its haljits seem to 

 be httle different from those of P. c. canariensis. 



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