These facts are highly interesting. It cannot be doubted
that, if there were land-birds to pick up the seeds when first cast
on shore, and a soil better adapted for their growth than the loose
blocks of coral, the most isolated of the lagoon islands would in
time possess a far more abundant Flora than they now have.
The list of land animals is even poorer than that of the plants.
Some of the islets are inhabited by rats, which were brought in a
ship from the Mauritius, wrecked here. These rats are considered by
Mr. Waterhouse as identical with the English kind, but they are
smaller, and more brightly coloured. There are no true land-birds,
for a snipe and a rail (Rallus Phillippensis), though living
entirely in the dry herbage, belong to the order of Waders. Birds
of this order are said to occur on several of the small low islands
in the Pacific. At Ascension, where there is no land-bird, a rail
(Porphyrio simplex) was shot near the summit of the mountain, and
it was evidently a solitary straggler. At Tristan d'Acunha, where,
according to Carmichael, there are only two land-birds, there is a
coot. From these facts I believe that the waders, after the
innumerable web-footed species, are generally the first colonists
of small isolated islands.
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