288 Dr. P. H, Bahr : Notes on the 



keep in check the number of rats which were destroying 

 the sugar-cane. The rt-snlt, as elsewhere, has been that the 

 rats are still found in plenty, whereas the more defenceless 

 birds have suffered. To such an extent has the Mongoose 

 increased that it is now a common and obvious feature of 

 the landscape. The rearing of domestic fowls has become 

 almost an impossibility. Within the confines of our garden 

 in Suva I had little difficulty in killing over thirty of 

 these animals in less than a fortnight by means of two 

 Mongoose-traps. 



I frequently observed the Mongoose spring on and success- 

 fully catch small birds feeding in the long grass. It has 

 taken to climbing trees, and therefore the species building in 

 more or less accessible positions, such as the Parrots and 

 the Lories, have suffered most. The Pigeons, wliich place 

 their nests in the more slender branches, have to a much 

 larger extent escaped. The harmless ground-snakes, once so 

 higiily prized by the Fijians as an article of f<jod, have 

 disappeared from Vitilcvu, and it is said that even the 

 land-crabs have shared the same fate. Luckih'^, however, 

 the ravages of the Mongoose are confined at present to the 

 two larger islands, Vitilevu and Vanualevu, where sugar 

 is grown on an extensive scale. The lovely and fertile 

 island of Taviuni, iu spite of certain ill-advised attempts at 

 introduction, which, happily, have so far been frustrated, 

 still remains free from this pest and is a sanctuary to the 

 birds peculiar to it. 



The Mynah, on the other hand, was introduced with 

 the object of destroying certain insects which bore into the 

 sugar-cane. This it is said to have done to a certain extent. 

 Its influence has been marked on the number of Lepidoptera, 

 which have greatly decreased. This bird has increased 

 enormously in numbers, especially in the western part of the 

 group. Being of a quarrelsome disposition it drives away 

 the native birds from the vicinity of European houses. Its 

 range is more or less confined at present to tlie cultivated 

 areas of ground and it is not seen far away from human 

 habitations. 



