OCR Text |
Show 462 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. Oct. 1835. any in the archipelago. They all agree in many points ; namely, in a peculiar structure of their bill, short tails, general form, and in their plumage. The females are gray or brown, but the old cocks jet-black. All the species, excepting two, feed in flocks on the ground, and have very similar habits. It is very remarkable that a nearly perfect gradation of structure in this one group can be traced in the form of the beak, from one exceeding in dimensions that of the largest gros-beak, to another differing but little from that of a warbler. Of the aquatic birds I have already remarked that some are peculiar to these islands, and some common to North and South America. We will now turn to the order of reptiles, which forms, perhaps, the most striking feature in the zoology of these islands. The species are not numerous, but the number of individuals of each kind, is extraordinarily great. 'rhere is one kind both of the turtle and tortoise ; of lizards four ; and of snakes about the same number. I will first describe the habits of the tortoise ( 'l'estudo Indicus) which has been so frequently alluded to. 'rhese animals are found, I believe, in all the islands of the Archipelago; certainly in the greater number. They frequent in preference the high damp parts, but likewise inhabit the lower and arid districts. I have already mentioned* proofs, from the numbers which have been taken in a single day, how very numerous they must be. Some individuals grow to an immense size: Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, who had at the time of our visit charge of the colony, told us that he had seen several so large, that it required six or eight men to lift them from the ground ; and that some had afforded as much as two hundred pounds of meat. The old males are the largest, the females rarely growing to so great a size. The male can readily be distinguished from the female by the "" Dampier says, "The land-turtles are here so numerous, that five or six hundred men might subsist on them for several months without any other sort of provisions. They are so extraordinarily large and fat, and so sweet, that no pullet eats more pleasantly."-Vol. i., p. 1 10. Oct. 1835. TORTOIS,E. 463 greater length of its tail. The tortoises which live on th · 1 d h 1 · ose IS an s w ere t 1ere IS no water, or in the lower and arid parts of t. he others, chiefly feed on the succulent cac tu s. Those whiCh ~requent the higher and damp regions, eat the leaves of vanous trees, a kind of berry (called gua a · t ) wh ' h · 'd y VI a IC IS ac~ and austere, and likewise a pale green filamentous lichen, that hangs in tresses from the boughs of the trees. . !he tortoise is .ve~ fond of water, drinking large quantities, and :wallowmg m the mud. The larger islands alone possess sprmgs, and these are always situated towards the central parts, and at a considerable elevation. The tortoises therefore, which frequent the lower districts when thirsty' are obliged to travel from a long distance. Hence broad a~d well-beaten paths radiate off in every direction from the wells . even down to the sea-coast; and the Spaniards by fol~owmg them up, first discovered the watering-places. When I .landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what ammal travelled so methodically along the wellchosen tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to be11~old many of these great monsters; one set eagerly trave mg onwards with outstretched necks and another set returning, after having drunk their fill. When the tortois~ arrives at the spring, quite regardless of any spectator, It buries its head in the water above its eyes and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ~en in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or four days in the neighbourhood of the water, and then returns to the .lower country; but they differed in their accounts respectmg the frequency of these visits. The animal proba~ ly r~gulates them according to the nature of the food WhiCh It has consumed. It is, however, certain that t or t m. ses can subs.i st even on those islands where th' ere is ~o other water, than what falls during a few rainy days m the year. I believe it is well ascertained, that the bladder of the frog |