DESERT TRUMPETER RULLFTXCTI. 83 



bird being classed by various authors as an Emberiza, 



a Fringilla, Pyrrhula, Carpodacus, Erytlirospiza, Ery- 



throthorax, Serinus, or Bucanetes! 



I have preferred, however, keeping it where it is 



placed by its structural affinities in the genus Pyrrhula. 



It may be considered as the ground and desert type 



of that genus, not far removed from the two preceding 



species. 



It is truly, as Dr. Bolle remarks, a bird of the Sa- 

 hara. He writes about it as follows : — "Far beyond the 

 other side of the fruitful coast-line of North Africa, 

 which borders southwards the Mediterranean Sea, the 

 cultivated fields of the Arabs are surrounded by a margin 



of desert, where a new unexplored kingdom, with a 

 scanty but strange world of plants and animals, comes 

 into view. Silence, as of the grave, reigns supreme 

 in the terrible Sahara, where the sea of sand has its 

 waves agitated by the poisonous breath of the Simoon. 

 Through this run the routes of the caravans, and its 

 palm-shaded oases and wadis, which during the falls of 

 winter are flooded with water, and are adorned with 

 thickets of mimosas and tamarisks." 



It was in the two Canary Islands Lanzarote and 

 Fuertaventura, which appear to have been divided from 

 the Sahara by the sea, and bear the character of scenery 

 above described, that Dr. Bolle found the Desert Trum- 

 peter in great abundance, and where his observations 

 upon its habits were made. 



"Whoever," says Dr. Bolle, wishes to know the 

 dwelling-place of P. githaginea, must not expect to 

 follow me as when I described the wild Canary bird 

 into the glades of the Hesperides, through hollows rich 

 in flowers, and bordered with woods of laurel. The 

 Fortunate Islands are in no way similar to the ever- 



