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Canadas in 1825 they saw this bird, but did not succeed in procuring one; nor were any obtained 

 until 1829, when the pair above referred to were shot. According to Dr. Carl Bolle it "inhabits 

 the dreary heights of the Teyde, or Peak of Teneriffe, and the plateaux which surround the 

 highest point, called the Pan de Azucar or ' Sugarloaf,' at an altitude of 7000-8000 feet, and 

 which are covered with brush-wood, consisting of the so-called Retama blanca [Spartocytisus 

 nubigenus). The ground is there covered with yellowish pumice-stone rubble, intermixed with 

 lava and shining lumps of obsidian ; and for miles no spring is found. Deep below this tract 

 are the clouds, and lower still the ocean-girt island, while above all smokes the crater of the 

 Teyde. The absence of rain and cold nights, together with the glowing heat of the midday, 

 make the climate of these high ' Canadas ' most peculiar ; and even the Raptores seldom 

 straggle into this wilderness. Half-wild goats and bees appear to be the only inhabitants of 

 these districts, but little known to the islanders, who with doubt watch the curious stranger as 

 he climbs upwards to explore them. This is the habitat of the Teydean Chaffinch ; and hence 

 the obscurity that envelops its habits and nidification, of which latter we know nothing. The 

 goatherds, whom I questioned, say these birds are but few in number, and feed principally on 

 the seeds of the Retama and the Codeso (Adenocarpus frankenoides) plants, which give a cha- 

 racter to the vegetation of the ' Canadas.' Neither Berthelot nor I ever heard any song uttered 

 by this bird. I only saw one, a male, in October 1853, when climbing the peak, near the Estancia 

 de los Alemanos." Mr. F. DuCane Godman writes that " soon after landing at Teneriffe I made 

 inquiries about this bird, but found the people knew little or nothing about it. They also told 

 me that strange birds killed in the mountain-forests did not belong to the island, but were 

 ' Pajaros de Africa,' and it would be of no use to search for it there. However, I determined 

 to look for it in the pine-forests, high up the mountain, where Webb and Berthelot procured the 

 pair from which the species was described. Accordingly I made an early start one morning from 

 La Guanche, with a guide who knew the forest-paths, and at daylight I found myself in a dense 

 wood of young pines (Pinus canariensis). Through this we ascended for about an hour, when 

 the trees became larger. We had got nearly through this belt of trees, and were coming to the 

 open space at the foot of the volcanic cone, where only a few retama bushes are to be found, 

 when I suddenly heard a loud note of a strange bird at some distance to the left of the track. 

 I immediately went in pursuit, gun in hand, and returned in about five minutes, having killed a 

 fine specimen of the bird I was in search of. I spent the whole day wandering about in the 

 upper part of this forest, and killed some seven or eight. Even here it is not very common ; and 

 I believe it seldom or never goes lower down. It feeds on the seeds of the pine, and breaks up 

 the cone with its powerful beak in order to get at them, reminding one of the Crossbill. Later 

 in the year it frequents the Canadas, where it feeds on the seeds of the retama, which at the 

 time I was there was only in bloom. I afterwards saw more of them in the pine-forests above 

 Chasna, and procured other specimens. Mr. Crotch tells me that when he was encamped on 

 the Canadas collecting coleoptera, he procured a nest with eggs; the latter, he says, more 

 resemble those of a Shrike than any of the Finches'. The nest, I believe he told me, was built 

 in a retama bush. It is known to the goatherds, who tend their flocks in the highest parts of 

 the mountain, by the name of ' Pajaro de la cumbre.' " 



Beyond the above particulars, nothing is known respecting the habits and nidification of the 



