THE AZORES. 
241 
CHAP. XII.] 
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. Bam Owl 
4. Blackbird 
. 5. Robin 
6. Blackcap 
7. Gold-crest 
8. Wheatear 
9. Grey Wagtail 
10. Atlantic Chaffinch 
11. Azorean Bullfinch 
12. Canary 
13. Common Starling 
14. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 
15. Wood-pigeon 
16. Rock Dove 
17. Red-legged Partridge... 
18. Common Quail 
( Buteo vulgaris) 
(Asio otus) • 
(Strix flammed) 
(T urdus merula) 
( Erythacus rubeculd) 
( Sylvia atricapilla) 
( Regulus cristatus ) 
(Saxicola cenanthe) 
( Motacilla sulphured) 
(Fringilla tintillon) 
(Pyrrhula murina) 
(Serinus canarius) 
(Sturnus vulgaris) 
(Dryobates minor) 
(Columba palumbus) 
(Columba livia) 
(Caccabis rufa) 
( Cotumix communis) 
All the above-named birds are common in Europe and North 
R 
