Mr. F. Du Cane Godman on the Birds of the Azores. 105 
whilst other residents must be included. On reference to M. 
Pucheran's paper in the f Revue et Magasin de Zoologie^ for 
1859 (vol. xi. p. 409), it would appear that M. Morelet actually 
obtained only four specimens of birds from these islands, whence 
I infer that the rest of his list was formed from observations 
casually made, and not corroborated by the collection and colla¬ 
tion of specimens. That my own catalogue includes all the 
stragglers, I do not pretend to say; on the contrary, I have no 
doubt that the number may be considerably extended; but with 
regard to the residents, I believe it will be found tolerably 
correct. Scarcely a storm occurs in spring or autumn without 
bringing one or more species foreign to the islands—a fact well 
known to many of the inhabitants; and I have been frequently 
told that Swallows, Larks, Grebes, and other species not referred 
to here, are not uncommonly seen at those seasons of the year. 
The ornithology of these islands, and distribution of the birds 
amongst the several groups, seem to furnish strong evidence 
against the supposition that the Azores ever formed a portion of 
an old continent, which is the theory of Professor Edward 
Forbes. Were these volcanic rocks the remaining peaks of 
former continental mountains, should we not expect to find a 
number of land-birds concentrated upon them, modified perhaps 
(had sufficient time elapsed) from the species representing 
them on the present continent of Europe or its adjuncts ? 
whereas the Chaffinch (Fringilla moreleti) and Bullfinch (Pyr- 
rhula murina ) are the only birds that at all aid this view; and 
the facts of their isolation and difference from their continental 
representatives can more easily be accounted for by supposing 
them to have arrived at a remote period of time through the 
same cause that now brings stragglers from Europe or North 
Africa, and that subsequent modification has altered them to what 
we find them to be at present. This cause I imagine to be, the 
prevalence of storms. No contrast could perhaps be stronger 
than between the Azores and the Galapagos as regards the cli¬ 
mate each group possesses. Apparently similar in their origin— 
both the production of a series of volcanic eruptions—and similar, 
also, to some extent, in their position as regards the continents 
of Europe and South America, the former are subject to con- 
