Birds

The work by the Revd Father Ernst Schmitz entitled Die Vögel Madeira's records thirty-eight birds that nest in the archipelago and one hundred and fifty-seven that are migrants.

The birds that nest in the archipelago are mostly European species, whereas the migrants generally come from the African coast. Of the latter, those that appear most often are, according to J. Y. Johnson, the following: Accipter nisus, Fringilla chloris, Upupa epops, Ardea cinerea, A. nycticorax, Limosa melanura, Numenius arquata, Gallinago major, Gallinula chloropus, Fulica atra, Mareca penelope, Larus tridactylus and Sula alba. Cegialitis vociferus, an American species, has been recorded several times in Madeira, and Phyloscosus superciliosus, from Asia, was collected some years ago on Porto Santo. Of the native species, the canary, the corre-caminho, the andorinha da serra, the pombo trocaz and the anjinho are common to Madeira and the Canary Islands and have not been found elsewhere. The tintilhão occurs only in Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Azores, and the bisbis is a species peculiar to our island. The toutinegra de capelo is a curious variety which we suppose has not been found outside Madeira.