TAMENESS OF THE BIRDS 111 



tion was noteworthy. At first thought it would 

 seem to be accounted for by the fact that the 

 island is uninhabited and very seldom visited; 

 but if this be the reason, one would expect all the 

 birds to be tame, which was not the case. Indeed, 

 a small heron, which proved to be a perfectly new 

 species,* was so wild that, although we saw a great 

 number, I was able to shoot only a single specimen. 

 Also the only small land-bird, a tiny sunbird,| 

 which is found nowhere else, was by no means 

 tame. On Saint Paul's Rocks, as I have 

 mentioned in a previous chapter, one species of 

 noddy tern is quite tame, while the other is 

 extremely shy and wild, though there is probably 

 no island in the world more seldom visited by man. 

 It would seem, then, that tameness and timidity 

 in birds are to a great extent specific traits. 



Unfortunately, rats have been imported by some 

 means into Assumption and are now very abundant. 

 There is little doubt that they devour many eggs 

 of the rail and of other birds which nest near 

 the ground, and should the rats increase to any 

 extent, there is a great danger of these interest- 

 ing birds becoming extinct in the near future. 

 All the rats which I shot were of a very pale 

 coloration, probably due to the nature of the 

 ground. 



On the open ground near the foot of the sandhill 



* Butoridea crawfordi, Nicoll, "Bulletin Brit. Orn. Club," Vol. XVI. , 

 p. 105. f Cinnyria abbotti, Ridgway. 



