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On the Blue Chaffinch of Teneriffe.



forests of the beautiful Canary Pine, always at a high altitude,

so that their habitat is a very confined one. I was told, however,

that this same Chaffinch is supposed to have been discovered on

the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura, but for the truth of

this I cannot be sure. If the bird is confined to one small island

in the whole world, it certainly must become extinct before long,

especially when naturalists are more and more interested in

procuring skins.


Mr. Meade-Waldo knows as much as anyone about the

Blue Chaffinch, and has contributed more than one note in the

Ibis. For instance, in the Vol. for 1893, p. 193, he wrote :—


“This beautiful Chaffinch, I am glad to say, appears to

“hold its own in all the pine forests of Teneriffe, and in one

“district seems to increase, owing, I believe, to a war waged

“against the Sparrow-hawks that breed there and evidently

“ feed on the poor ‘ Azules.’


“ They are the tamest birds imaginable; when we were

“ camped in the pine-forests they would come into our tent to

“ feed, and would anxiously wait for us to liberate from our

“ fingers a butterfly that had been captured. Though feeding

“ on pine-seeds they do equally well without in confinement,

“ but appear to want a great deal of insect food. They seem

“ perfectly hardy, a fine old cock in our aviary having been

“out all through the winters of 1891 and 1892. The nest is

“ built at the end of June, and two eggs only are laid,”


This Chaffinch is a good size larger than the English one,

the male being of a rich grey blue all over, with a narrow line of

white just over and under the eyes. The female is, roughly

speaking, greenish, a kind of dull brown green, but in the breed¬

ing season she has a bluish tinge.


These birds have a loud chirp, somewhat Sparrow-like, but

sharper and more shrill, whilst the song bears a family resem¬

blance to that of the European Chaffinch.


I was told in Teneriffe that an Austrian naturalist had

not long ago been shooting a great many—worse luck! and that

some of the inhabitants are realizing that the skins are sought

after by European collectors.


The birds of the Canary Islands are interesting, because



