APPENDIX. 361 



tree with tlie muzzle of my gun, and the little birds drank 

 water out of a vessel which I held in my hand. Ikit I have 

 in my " Journal " given details on tliis subject, Jind I will 

 here only remark that the tameness is not general, l)ut special 

 towards man; for at the Falklands the geese build on the 

 outlying islands on account of the foxes. These wolf-like 

 foxes were here as fearless of man as were the birds, and the 

 sailors in Byron's voyage, mistaking their curiosity for fierce- 

 ness, ran into the water to avoid them. In all old civilized 

 countries the wariness and fear of even young foxes and 

 wolves are well known.* At the Galapagos Islands the great 

 land lizards {AmUyrliynchus) were extremely tame, so that I 

 could pall them by the tail; whereas in other parts of the 

 world large lizards are wary enough. The aquatic lizard of 

 the same genus lives on the coast, is adapted to swim and 

 dive perfectly, and feeds on submerged algie : no doubt it 

 must be exposed to danger from the sharks, and consequently, 

 though quite tame on the land, I could not drive them into 

 the water, and when I threw them in they always swam 

 directly back to the shore. See what a contrast with all 

 amphibious animals in Europe, which when disturbed by the 

 most dangerous animal, man, instinctively and instantly take 

 to the water. 



The tameness of the birds at the Falklands is particularly 

 interesting, because most of the very same species, more espe- 

 cially the larger birds, are excessively wild in Tierra del 

 Fuego, where for generations they have been persecuted by 

 the savages. Both at these islands and at the Galapagos it 

 is particularly noteworthy, as I have shown in my " Journal " 

 by the comparison of the several accounts up to the time 

 when we visited these islands, that the birds are gradually 

 getting less and less tame ; and it is surprising, considering 

 the degree of persecution which they have occasionally suf- 



A-ol. ii, p. 246) says tliat at tlie C. cle Verde Islands tlie pigeons were so tame 

 as readily to be caught. These, then, are the only large groups of islands, 

 with the exception of the oceanic (of Avhich I can find no early account) 

 which were uninhabited Avlien discovered. Thos. Herbert in 1626 in his 

 Travels (p. 349) describes the tameness of the bii'ds at Mauritius, and Du 

 Bois in 1669-72 enters into details on this head with respect to all the birds 

 at Bourbon. Capt. Moresby lent me a MS account of his survey of St. Pierre 

 and Providence Islands, north of Madagascar, in which he describes the 

 extreme tameness of the pigeons. Capt. Carmichael has described the tame- 

 ness of the bu'ds at Tristan d'Acunha. 

 * Le Roy, Letfn^s PliHosoph., p. 86. 



