Birds

BIRDS.

Small birds are altogether absent and, except the ordinary domestic fowl, we found only the tropic or man-of-war bird, petrels, gulls, and a variety of aquatic birds. George Foster observed noddies so tame as to settle on the shoulders of the natives, but he did not conclude that they kept a regular breed of them. The common domestic fowl was found on the island by the early navigators, and it is claimed that they were brought there by the first colonists. They are of the same kind as the common chickens reared at home; their bodies are small, and the legs long, but this is no doubt the result of long in-breeding. The natives all have tame fowls about their dwellings, but there are others in a wild state. We shot some of the wild fowls and found them tough and inferior in taste to those that were domesticated.