328 THE 1ND0-PACIFIC AND ITS SHORES 



Another characteristic southern type of cetacean is formed by the Irawadi 



dolphin (Orcella fluminalis) and its near relative 0. brevirostris of the Bay of 



Bengal. The Irawadi species, which ascends a long distance up the river from 



which it takes its name, grows to about seven feet in length and is slaty grey or 



almost black above and but little lighter below. With a somewhat globular head and 



a small, sickle-shaped back-fin, this species is furnished with a comparatively small 



number of minute, sharp teeth, spaced out so as to occupy nearly the whole length 



of the jaws. Among other cetaceans, a local race of the black-fish (Globiocepi halus 



melas indicus), said to be distinguished from the typical European representative 



of its species by its uniformly bluish grey colour and less numerous teeth, 



frequents the mouth of the Ganges ; while the wholly black false killer (Pseudorca 



crassidens) has been taken off Travancore and Tasmania. Several kinds of 



dolphins belonging to the bottle-nosed group, such as Tursiops catatonia, abound 



off the Travancore coast ; and there are likewise numerous long-snouted dolphins 



of the genera Steno and Sotalia, such as Elliot's dolphin (Steno pemiger), the 



spotted dolphin (Sotalia lentiginosa), the pale grey Bornean S. borneensis, and 



the white Chinese dolphin (S. sinensis), with its flesh-coloured flippers, to be met 



with in the Indo-Malay and Chinese seas. 



Turning to the birds which frequent the islands and shores of the 

 Laysan Finch. . . 



Indo-Pacific, attention may be directed in the first place, on account 



of its remarkable habits, to a member of the finch tribe, Telespiza cantans, in- 

 habiting the small coral-island of Laysan, lying to the west-north-west of the 

 Hawaiian group, somewhat to the northward of the Tropic of Capricorn. The 

 peculiarity connected with this species is that its food is almost wholly of an animal 

 nature, consisting to a great degree of the eggs of the sea-birds which resort to 

 the same island. The eggs are broken by a few blows from the strong, sharp 

 beaks of these finches; and the audacity of these birds in searching for their 

 favourite food is so great that other birds, when sitting, dare not leave their nests 

 for a moment. The sea-birds have, however, learnt great caution in the matter 

 of incubating, and when one of the sitting hens is about to be relieved by her mate 

 as he returns from a flight out to sea, she sits close until actually pushed off her 

 nest, so that the eggs are not even momentarily exposed. In spite of such pre- 

 cautions, the finches are, however, not infrequently successful in their raids, and 

 carry off one or more of the eggs. In colour the Laysan finch is brown, with a 

 greenish head and yellowish under-parts. It is so fearless of man that it even 

 alights on a dinner-table, and pecks at the viands on the plates and dishes. 



Laysan Island is likewise the home of a peculiar species of small 

 Laysan Rail . . . . .p, 



rail (Porzanula palmeri), which, unlike its relatives, feeds partly on 



insects, but mainly on the eggs of the sea-birds. Having, however, a beak too feeble 



to break the eggs for itself, it shares the plunder of the finch. As audacious and 



importunate towards man as the latter, this rail is unable to fly, although it makes 



use of its stumpy wings to increase its speed when running along sandy shores. 



Those typical frequenters of the shore and the lagoon, the stilts, 

 Stilt and Plover. , . , , , ■, - , , n , i n i_- j 



are characterised by the slender, straight beak, the absence of a mnd- 



toe, the very small web connecting the toes, and, above all, by their elongated legs. 



Among them, the black-winged stilt (Himantopns candidus) takes its name from 



