A POOR FAUNA 203 



There is a tinamou, a bird much resembling 

 a partridge, but this has been introduced from 

 South America. Two of these birds, which were 

 shot and skinned, proved to belong to a common 

 species of tinamou, known as Nothoprocta 

 perdicaria. Sea-birds were rather more numerous, 

 but these were mostly seen from the ship before 

 we landed. On the island itself I saw but two 

 species, the common noddy tern, the same bird 

 as that found on Saint Paul's Rocks, and white 

 terns.* The latter were seen in the crater of 

 Rano Kao, where they were apparently nesting. 



In a marsh at the bottom of the crater were 

 numbers of small geese, which were seen both by 

 myself and Major Wilbraham. These geese may 

 have been introduced, but as none of us had time 

 to get to the bottom of the crater, no specimens 

 were procured. In coloration they appeared to 

 belong to two species ; some being black with a 

 patch of white on the wing, while others were of 

 a red colour. These differences may, however, 

 be due to sex. A golden plover was, we were told, 

 introduced by Mr. Cooper, who, several years ago, 

 turned out six of these birds on the island. 



There are no indigenous mammals on Easter 

 Island, the rat which inhabits it having been 

 imported, and a cat, which is found wild, being 

 descended from the domestic cat. 



On the second day of our visit I landed early 



* Oygis alba. 



