OF THE GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. 461 
end on December 6th. Here we had to anchor, being unable to reach our camp, 
owing to the strong current prevailing. The next forenoon, however, we made our 
destination. 
“‘Great difficulty was experienced in embarking the labourers, the surf running very 
high—so much so that the canoe was repeatedly upset, and the few necessaries the men 
brought with them lost. The embarcation accomplished on December 9th, we sailed 
for Abingdon the following morning, and reached this island in five hours. Abingdon 
was the last island I visited, remaining there until the Ist January, 1869, on which day 
the sloop sailed with a cargo of ‘orchilla’ for Ballenita, and I left in her Abingdon 
Island and the whole of the group for good. 
“During my stay I only found two birds’ nests; and I believe that the birds mostly 
retire into the more elevated, shady, and cooler parts of the interior of the islands to 
breed. One nest I found on Albemarle was shaped like a retort, and rested on the 
branch of a bush. The other, found on Bindloe, was shaped like a cradle, and was 
suspended from a branch.” 
II. SHort Account oF THE LITERATURE RELATING TO THE BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS. 
Prior to Mr, Darwin’s visit to the Galapagos, but little notice had been taken of the 
indigenous birds. Many of the writers who haye left records of their visits to the 
islands have made incidental observations of the birds they saw: these relate chiefly to 
the sea-birds. They are so brief that it is only by the light of the positive knowledge 
we now possess of the birds that these incidental notices can be interpreted. 
The literature of the ornithology of the Galapagos, therefore, may be said to have 
commenced with Mr. Darwin’s visit. During his celebrated voyage in H.MLS. ‘ Beagle,’ 
thirty-four days were spent in the archipelago, the chief islands touched at being 
Chatham, Charles, Albemarle, and James. The birds collected by Mr. Darwin were 
briefly characterized by Mr. Gould in the ‘Proceedings’ of this Society for 1837, 
and were subsequently more fully described by Mr. Darwin himself in the third Part 
of the ‘Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle.’ Unfortunately, at the time of his 
visit, Mr. Darwin did not fully appreciate the peculiar distribution of the bird-fauna 
throughout the different islands, and the particular island where each specimen was 
obtained was not always noted at the time. Enough, however, was recorded to form a 
basis for deductions, the importance of which in their bearing upon the study of natural 
science has never been equalled. 
Subsequent observations tend to show that Mr. Darwin’s views as to the exceedingly 
restricted range of many of the species must be considerably modified. On the other 
hand, the exploration of more of the islands has led to the discovery of other and 
highly interesting species which there is every ground for supposing are not generally 
distributed over all the islands of the archipelago. Mr. Darwin records having obtained 
thirty-seven species of birds during his stay. 
