862 Fauna of the Islands of Fernando de Noronha. 
them sea-birds which flock and breed about the inaccessible 
crags and the small islands and rocks off the main island, and 
being but little disturbed by visitors, they are not timid, and 
may often be killed with clubs or caught with the hand. 
One of the most interesting and beautiful birds on the island is 
the wig-tail, a white bird about the size of a pigeon, having two 
long flexible, streamer-like tail feathers! These birds nest and 
roost mostly upon the lofty sides and about the summit of the great 
peak. At every hour of the day they may be seen hovering about 
this majestic rock like great white butterflies, or resting upon the 
little niches on its sides—white specks against the dark background. 
When seen at any considerable distance from their nests or roosting 
places they usually fly in pairs, side by side, each following the 
other’s motions so exactly that one is at first inclined to think by 
some optical delusion there is but a single bird where two appear. 
They seldom fly in a straight line, but rise and fall and zigzag like 
butterflies, 
Rats and mice exist here in such numbers as, at times, to 
constitute a very serious pest and drawback to agriculture. It is 
recorded that during the occupancy of northern Brazil by the Dutch, 
about 1630, Fernando de Noronha was abandoned “ by reason of 
the vast numbers of rats which consumed all the fruits of the 
earth.”? As one walks through the fields or along the paths he 
constantly hears their rustling on all sides, and sees them darting 
here and there through the grass. A certain number of the convicts 
are assigned to the work of rat-killing, and each one is required to 
kill a specified number of rats every days. The number is incredi- 
bly large—somewhere in the hundreds—but I made no note of it, 
and dare not speak from memory. Cats and dogs have been 
imported in the hope that they might aid in the extermination 
of the plague, but though they usually kill them eagerly 
during a few days, they soon become so accustomed to their pa 
that they cease to pay the least attention to either rats or mice. 
I made no notes upon the occurrence of rats and mice upo? 
Ilha Raza and Sao José, and do not recall having seen them 0m 
' The inhabitants call these birds by the very appropriate name of 
rabo de junco—reed tail. 
* John Neuhoff in Pinkerton’s Voyages, vol. xiv., p. 701. 
