CHAP. Xlt 



THE AZORES 



249 



group ; and it is even carried further, so as to include all 

 terrestrial vertebrata, there being no snake, lizard, frog, or 

 fresh-water fish, although the islands are sufficiently exten- 

 sive, possess a mild and equable climate, and are in every 

 way adapted to support all these groups. On the other 

 hand, flying creatures, as birds and insects, are abundant ; 

 and there is also one flying mammal — a small European 

 bat. It is true that rabbits, weasels, rats and mice, and a 

 small lizard peculiar to Madeira and Teneriffe, are now 

 found wild in the Azores, but there is good reason to 

 believe that these have all been introduced by human 

 agency. The same may be said of the gold-fish and eels 

 now found in some of the lakes, there being not a single 

 fresh-water fish which is truly indigenous to the islands. 

 When we consider that the nearest part of the group is 

 about 900 miles from Portugal, and more than 550 miles 

 from Madeira, it is not surprising that none of these 

 terrestrial animals can have passed over such a wide 

 expanse of ocean unassisted by man. 



Let us now see what animals are believed to have 

 reached the group by natural means, and thus constitute 

 its indigenous fauna. These consist of birds, insects, and 

 land-shells, each of which must be considered separately. 



Birds. — Fifty-three species of birds have been observed 

 at the Azores, but the larger proportion (thirty-one) are 

 either aquatic or waders — birds of great powers of flight, 

 whose presence in the remotest islands is by no means 

 remarkable. Of these two groups twenty are residents, 

 breeding in the islands, while eleven are stragglers only 

 visiting the islands occasionally, and all are common 

 European species. The land-birds, twenty-two in number, 

 are more interesting, four only being stragglers, while 

 eighteen are permanent residents. The following is a list 

 of these resident land-birds : — 



1. Common Buzzard 



2. Long-eared Owl 

 3 Barn Owl 



4. Blackbird 



5. Robin 



6. Blackcap 



[Butco vulgaris) 

 {Asio otus) 

 {Strix flammea) 

 {Turdus mcrula) 

 {Erythacus rubccula) 

 {Sylvia atricapilla) 



