NATURAL HISTORY. 81 



It is a great pest, frequently visiting the ranches of the natives, eat- 

 ing the eggs of fowls and young chickens, and robbing birds' nests. 

 It is a common thing on walking through the woods of the island to 

 hear an outcry among the birds and to discover one of these creatures 

 in the vicinity of a nest which he has just robbed. Several pigeons 

 belonging to the author were caught and killed by hilitais, their 

 wings having been clipped to prevent their flying away from a ranch 

 to which they had been carried. These lizards are eaten by Filipinos 

 living in Guam, but the natives look upon them with disgust. 



All houses of Guam are frequented by small lizards called 

 "geckos." They are harmless creatures and are welcomed by the 

 natives on account of their habit of catching insects. Their toes are 

 so constructed as to enable them to run upside-down on the ceiling 

 and rafters with great rapidity. At night they may be seen quite 

 motionless lying in wait for moths and other insects which may be 

 attracted into the houses by the light. Three or four often pursue 

 the same insect, approaching it stealthily like cats after their prey. 

 From time to time they utter a chattering noise, which has won for 

 them the name of " island canary birds." 



In the woods is a pretty blue-tailed skink (Emoia cyanura Lesson), 

 a small lizard with a tail the color of turquoise and with longitudinal 

 bronze lines along the back. The only snake on the island is Typhlops 

 hraminus (Daudin), a small species, with microscopic eyes and mouth 

 and covered with minute scales. It is sometimes called " blind-worm," 

 from its general resemblance to a large earthworm, and is found in 

 damp places, under stones and logs. Turtles are common in the sea, 

 but are seldom taken. 



FISHES. a 



GENERAL NOTES. 



The fishes of Guam have been collected by Quoy and Gaimard and 

 Mr. Alvin Seale, of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Hawaii. 6 

 Although the natives do not devote themselves to fishing so exten- 

 sively now as was formerly the case, yet many of them have cast nets 

 with which they catch small fish swimming in schools near the beach, 

 and a few have traps and seines. The ancient custom of trawling for 

 bonitos and flying fish has nearly died out, but the natives still resort 

 occasionally to the method pursued by their ancestors of stupefying 

 fish with the crushed fruit of Barrmgtonia speciosa, a narcotic widely 



I am indebted to Dr. Barton W. Evermann, of the U. S. Fish Commission, for 

 revising the scientific names of the fishes and for reading the proof of the following 

 list. 



6 See director's report for 1900, Honolulu, Hawaii, Bishop Museum Press, 1901, 

 p. 61. 



977305 6 



