On the Birds of Madeira. 451 



year in the grassy highlands and wooded mountains, notwith- 

 standing' the carelessness of the Madeirans in observing a 

 close season. 



After having mentioned the breeding birds peculiar to 

 Madeira, let us now see what kind of birds are common 

 to Madeira and the two sister groups, the Canaries and the 

 Azores. In all the three groups you find these European 

 species — The great Mediterranean Shearwater (Puffinus 

 kuhli), the Mediterranean Gull (Larus cachinnans), the 

 Common Tern; and of land birds — the common Robin, Wood- 

 cock, Quail, and Rock-Pigeon. Every year seven thousand 

 Great Shearwaters are killed on our Désertas Islands, and 

 from twenty to twenty-two thousand on our Salvages 

 Islands, their salted flesh, oil, and feathers being the chief 

 revenue of these places ; the number of these birds, however, 

 remains always the same. 



AIL the other birds common to the three groups are not 

 found on the European continent, and may be called, there- 

 fore, Atlantic birds. They are the wild Canary, Berthelot's 

 Pipit, the anomalous Blackcap (Sylvia heineJceni), a melanistic 

 aberration of the ordinary Blackcap, and that most interesting 

 Dark Shearwater (Puffinus obscurus bailloni). Some other 

 Atlantic species or varieties are common to only two of 

 the groups — for mstance, the dark Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus 

 canariensis) , the Dusky Swift (Ajpus unicolor), Cabreras Black- 

 bird, Schmitz's Wagtail, the Atlantic Rock-Sparrow, and also 

 the sea-birds, Bulwer's Petrel and Harcourt's elegant Storm- 

 Petrel (Oceanodroma castro). 



Finally, I must mention the influence of the African con- 

 tinent and of the Tropics on the Madeiran bird-fauna. You 

 may find a few species among our breeding birds : such as Eea's 

 Petrel, the white-faced Petrel of the Salvages, the Barbary 

 Partridge, and African Quail, but chiefly in numerous 

 African and Tropical visitors, such as the Egyptian Vulture, 

 the Red-necked Nightjar, the Sahara Warbler (Sylvia 

 deserti), the Marbled Duck (Anas angustirostis), the Courser 

 (Gursorius gallicus), and last, but not least, the wonderful 

 Tropic Bird (Phaethon œthereus), with his bright silky plumage, 

 elegant tail, and coral beak. 



