1835. 



E I R D S-— K E M ARK AB LE B E AK S . 



505 



high land, or even a considerable extent of low country, much 

 if not the whole of their aqueous contents is discharged, and 

 until such a body of air has again acquired moisture, it is found 

 to be dry, parching, and unfavourable to vegetation. 



All the small birds that live on these lava-covered islands 

 have short beaks, very thick at the base, like that of a bull- 

 finch. This appears to be one of those admirable provisions 

 of Infinite Wisdom by which each created thing is adapted 

 to the place for which it was intended. In picking up insects, 

 or seeds which lie on hard iron-like lava, the superiority of such 

 beaks over delicate ones, cannot, I think, be doubted; but 

 there is, perhaps, another object in their being so strong and 

 wide. Colnett says, p. 59, " they observed an old bird in the 

 act of supplying three young ones with drink, by squeezing 

 the berry of a tree into their mouths. It was about the size of 

 a pea, and contained a watery juice, of an acid, but not unplea- 

 sant taste.'"' " The leaves of these trees absorb the copious dews 

 which fall during the night ; the birds then pierce them with 

 their bills for the moisture they retain, and which, I believe, 

 they also procure from the various plants and evergreens.'' 

 " The torch thistle contains a liquid in its heart, which the 

 birds drank, when it was cut down. They sometimes even 

 extracted it from the 3'oung trees by piercing the trunks with 

 their bills." For thus squeezing berries, and piercing woody 

 fibre, or even only stout leaves, a slight thin beak would be 

 scarcely available. Colnett* observes, that some of the birds 

 which he saw resembled a few that he had seen at New Zealand, 

 but as he also remarks that all the dead shells which he found 

 upon the beach w^ere familiar to him, I think one may sus- 

 pect the accuracy of his eye, if not his memory, in those in- 

 stances. 



Mr. Stokes made some notes about the tortoises (terrapin), 

 while with me, and as he and I are satisfied as to the facts, I 

 will add them. Fresh water was first discovered on Charles 

 and on James Islands, by following the terrapin paths. These 

 animals visit the low, warm ground to seek for food and de- 

 * Colnett's Voyage to the South Seas, pag-es 52, 55, 57. 



