OUR ISLANDS 163 



lesser land and their brothers on Hood. Diligent 

 search, interspersed with bursts of speed, gave us 

 four geckos, and we saw three others that were too 

 agile for our combined efforts. A hawk soared 

 overhead, perhaps watching our pui'suit of such 

 edible morsels as centipedes and lizards. 



In certain directions the Galapagos is a narrow 

 field of research. For instance, if you have seen a 

 hawk there, you can rest on the assm'ance that you 

 have now seen every species of hawk to be found 

 in the archipelago, and the same is true of an owl. 

 Those bees whose busy wings buzzed companion- 

 ably about us are the only representatives of their 

 family on the islands. But on the other hand, of 

 the black finches that are native here there are at 

 least fourteen species (Fig. 29). 



Several kinds of beetles, a nest of flying ants and 

 one of termites, and a white, thread-like centipede 

 were disposed in vials before the blare of the ship's 

 whistle warned us to be ready to perform those 

 athletic feats necessary to embarkation in the small 

 boat. Returning with what we felt to be an almost 

 complete collection of the flora and fauna of our 

 nameless islet, we christened it Osborn Island for 

 Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, and fell to 

 sorting and preserving our specimens for future 

 study. The Director combed Osborn Island with 

 especial thoroughness for the total bird census, and, 

 to add to the scientific value of this humble chap- 

 ter, I have prevailed upon him to condense some of 

 his observations into Appendix A at the end of this 

 volume. 



