134 BIRDS. 



No kind of human food is indigenous to this 

 soil ; and the greater number of its natural pro- 

 ductions are exotics. The only wild quadrupeds 

 are hares, rabbits, and numerous rats and mice, 

 which dwell in the crevices of the rocks. Horses, 

 oxen, sheep, and poultry, are chiefly imported 

 from the Cape ; but a deficiency of pasturage 

 and grain keeps their number within small 

 limits. The wild-birds are pheasants and par- 

 tridges, the latter of the red-legged East Indian 

 species ; (Tetrao rufus -J and a small but ele- 

 gant species of wax-bill, or amaduvade, about 

 the size of a wren ; the beak rose-colour ; the 

 plumage barred with gray and brown ; a dash 

 of red over the throat and abdomen, and a line 

 of scarlet extending across each eye. It is a 

 kind common also to the Cape of Good Hope. 

 They are taken in great numbers by the island- 

 ers, and are sold at the rate of about two shil- 

 lings the dozen ; they do not sing, and badly 

 bear removal to a colder climate. A small bird, 

 of melodious song, and known to the residents 

 as the " Canary-bird," is also abundant in the 

 inland thickets, although less so than the former 

 species. Crows were at one time introduced, 

 to clear the land of worms, but they disappeared 

 very soon after their importation. 



The most remarkable insects that came under 



