THE AZORES 



437 



exterminated." However, it still exists in the island of Pico. In 

 1914 I came upon a few young trees in the woods at the back of 

 Caes-o-Pico at an altitude of nearly 2000 feet, and was informed that 

 more grew on the sides of gulleys in the mountains behind San 

 Roque, which lies a little more to the east. The Pico islanders are 

 familiar with the tree by reputation, though as it has long been 

 very scarce, but few could have seen it growing in the woods. In 

 fact, the tree was first described to me on the other side of the island 

 by men who knew it only by reputation as supplying good timber 

 for houses. At Praynha do Norte I was told that up to recent times 

 the wood of the " Teixo " was to be seen in a few of the oldest houses. 

 As already remarked a lake in the mountains behind San Roque is 

 still known by some as the " Lagoa das Teixas " (Taxus), though 

 the tree must be almost extinct there now. According to Walker 

 the old Portuguese historians of the group of the sixteenth century, 

 and Linschoten at its latter end, described the Teixo as abundant 

 on Pico. Linschoten especially noticed that this Pico tree was 

 known for its " excellent and princely wood." Coming down to 

 later times, Dr., Webster in his Description of the Island of St. Michael, 

 Boston, 1821, writes that " the wood of Pico appears to be a species 

 of yew. Considerable quantities were formerly sent to Lisbon, 

 where it was manufactured into work-tables, desks, etc." (p. 214). 



Lowe includes Taxus haccata amongst the indigenous trees of 

 Madeira ; but it is characterised by him in the middle of last century 

 as being very rare. 



As regards the dispersal of this tree by birds, reference is made in 

 an article in the Times on Bird Gardeners (October 16, 1915) to the 

 distribution of the fruits of churchyard Yews in Breconshire by 

 missel-thrushes, which drop the undigested seeds on rocky crags 

 a thousand feet up the mountain slopes, where young Yews sub- 

 sequently spring up. These birds, according to Ogilvie-Grant 

 (Novit. Zool, XII., Jan. 1905), are very rare stragglers in the Azores. 



Vaccinium cylindraceum, Sm. — The " Romano " or 44 Romani " of 

 the Azoreans. Flowers in May and June. Begins to form fruit 

 in the latter half of July and matures it in August. Seubert, relying 

 on Hochstetter, gives its vertical range on Pico as 1000 to 5000 feet. 

 This exactly corresponds with my observations. Above 4000 feet, 

 when it ascends the scantily vegetated precipitous lava slopes, it 

 becomes stunted; and at the highest levels observed, 5000 to 5200 

 feet, it found shelter in the Calluna beds, where it was only a few 

 inches high. In the woods it often attains a height of nine or ten 

 feet, and when particularly luxuriant in its growth, as in the humid 

 plains of the lake district, it may reach fifteen feet ; but it is then 

 almost straggling in its habit. 



Viburnum tinus, L. — The Laurestinus of our gardens. In England 

 it flowers in midsummer and midwinter, and evidently it fruits 

 twice in the year, namely, at the end of summer and in April. Arcan- 

 geli states that it flowers in the Mediterranean region in January 

 and August. In the Azores according to the observations of Drouet 

 and myself it flowers in April and May, showing the early flower- 

 buds at the end of February and in March. It ripens its fruits in 



