78 



WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. 



HEAD OF A FLY-CATCHER. 



the last hundred and fifty years have been frequently vis- 

 ited by buccaneers and whalers, and the sailors, wandering 



through the woods in 

 search of tortoises, al- 

 ways take cruel de- 

 light in knocking 

 down the little birds. 

 In Charles Island, 

 which had then been 

 settled about six 

 years, I saw a boy 

 sitting by a well with 

 a switch in his hand, 

 with which he killed the doves and finches as they came to 

 drink. He had already got a little heap of them for his 

 dinner, and he said that he had constantly been in the habit 

 of waiting by this well for the same purpose. It would 

 seem that the birds of this archipelago, not having as yet 

 learned that man is a more dangerous animal than the tor- 

 toise or the lizard (Ambly- 

 rliyncus), disregard him, just 

 as in England shy birds, 

 such as magpies, do not 

 mind the cows and horses 

 grazing in the fields. 



The Falkland Islands of- 

 fer a second instance of birds 



with a similar disposition. As the birds are so tame there, 

 where foxes, hawks, and owls occur, we may infer that the 



