THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VoL. XXII. OCTOBER, 1888. No. 262, 
NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF THE ISLANDS OF FER- 
NANDO DE NORONHA. 
BY JOHN C. BRANNER. 
FERNANDO DE NORONHA is a small group of islands in the 
south Atlantic, about 230 miles northeast of Cape St. Roque, 
and belonging to Brazil. It is only six miles long by about two 
wide. There is no important settlement upon it, and though it lies 
near the track of vessels plying between European ports and those 
lying south of the Cape, it is seldom visited by steamships and 
rarely by sailing vessels, 
Very little is known of the natural history of this island. A 
very brief visit was made to it by Darwin in his famous voyage 
around the world, but the time he spent upon it—only a few hours 
—did not enable him to do much towards studying its natural 
history. In 1878 the Challenge Expedition landed here, but as 
the island is used for a penal settlement, the officer in charge of the 
colony would not give the party permission to make explorations. 
The few notes made by Mr. Darwin, and those of the Challenger 
party, furnish almost all the trustworthy information thus far pub- 
lished concerning it. 
In 1876, when a member of the Imperial Geological Survey of 
Brazil, I visited Fernando de N oronha, and spent the months of 
July and August there, during which times the following notes were 
made upon its fauna: 
The island is inhabited by a vast number of birds, most of 
