Journal of Researches, Chapter XVII: Galapagos Archipelago (from)

I have not as yet noticed by far the most remarkable feature in the natural history of this archipelago; it is, that the different islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set of beings. My attention was first called to this fact by the Vice-Governor, Mr. Lawson, declaring that the tortoises differed from the different islands, and that he could with certainty tell from which island any one was brought. I did not for some time pay sufficient attention to this statement, and I had already partially mingled together the collections from two of the islands. I never dreamed that islands, about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differently tenanted; but we shall soon see that this is the case. It is the fate of most voyagers, no sooner to discover what is most interesting in any locality, than they are hurried from it; but I ought, perhaps, to be thankful that I obtained sufficient materials to establish this most remarkable fact in the distribution of organic beings.

到现在为止，我还没有提到这个群岛自然史中最引人注目的特征；那就是，不同的岛屿在相当大的程度上住着一套不同的生物。最初使我注意到这个事实的，是副总督劳森先生，他断言，不同岛屿的陆龟是不同的，他能确定地说出任何一只龟是从哪个岛上带来的。有一段时间我没有充分注意这个说法，而且我已经把从其中两个岛上采集的标本部分地混在一起了。我做梦也没有想到，这些岛屿相距大约五六十英里，大多数彼此望得见，由完全相同的岩石构成，处在十分相似的气候之下，升起到几乎相等的高度，竟会住着不同的居民；但是我们很快就会看到，情况正是如此。大多数航海者的命运，就是刚刚发现一个地方最有趣的东西，就被匆匆带离了它；不过我也许应该感到庆幸，我得到了足够的材料，来确立生物分布中这个最引人注目的事实。

The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they can distinguish the tortoises from the different islands; and that they differ not only in size, but in other characters. Captain Porter has described those from Charles and from the nearest island to it, namely, Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked. M. Bibron, moreover, informs me that he has seen what he considers two distinct species of tortoise from the Galapagos, but he does not know from which islands. The specimens that I brought from three islands were young ones: and probably owing to this cause neither Mr. Gray nor myself could find in them any specific differences. I have remarked that the marine Amblyrhynchus was larger at Albemarle Island than elsewhere; and M. Bibron informs me that he has seen two distinct aquatic species of this genus; so that the different islands probably have their representative species or races of the Amblyrhynchus, as well as of the tortoise. My attention was first thoroughly aroused, by comparing together the numerous specimens, shot by myself and several other parties on board, of the mocking-thrushes, when, to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Charles Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus) all from Albemarle Island to M. parvulus; and all from James and Chatham Islands (between which two other islands are situated, as connecting links) belonged to M. melanotis. These two latter species are closely allied, and would by some ornithologists be considered as only well-marked races or varieties; but the Mimus trifasciatus is very distinct. Unfortunately most of the specimens of the finch tribe were mingled together; but I have strong reasons to suspect that some of the species of the sub-group Geospiza are confined to separate islands. If the different islands have their representatives of Geospiza, it may help to explain the singularly large number of the species of this sub-group in this one small archipelago, and as a probable consequence of their numbers, the perfectly graduated series in the size of their beaks. Two species of the sub-group Cactornis, and two of Camarhynchus, were procured in the archipelago; and of the numerous specimens of these two sub-groups shot by four collectors at James Island, all were found to belong to one species of each; whereas the numerous specimens shot either on Chatham or Charles Island (for the two sets were mingled together) all belonged to the two other species: hence we may feel almost sure that these islands possess their representative species of these two sub-groups. In land-shells this law of distribution does not appear to hold good. In my very small collection of insects, Mr. Waterhouse remarks, that of those which were ticketed with their locality, not one was common to any two of the islands.

正如我已经说过的，岛上的居民说他们能分辨不同岛屿的陆龟；它们不仅大小不同，其他特征也不同。波特船长曾描述过查尔斯岛和离它最近的胡德岛上的陆龟，说它们的甲壳前部厚，向上翘起，像西班牙马鞍；而詹姆斯岛上的陆龟比较圆，颜色比较黑，煮熟了味道也比较好。此外，比布龙先生告诉我，他见过他认为是来自加拉帕戈斯的两个不同的陆龟物种，但他不知道是来自哪些岛屿。我从三个岛上带回来的标本都是幼龟：大概是由于这个缘故，格雷先生和我都没能在它们身上找到任何物种上的差别。我曾注意到，海鬣蜥在阿尔伯马尔岛比在别处大；比布龙先生告诉我，他见过这个属的两个不同的水生物种；所以，不同的岛屿大概也像有各自的陆龟一样，有各自代表性的海鬣蜥物种或族群。最初彻底唤起我注意的，是把我自己和船上其他几个人射杀的大量嘲鸫标本放在一起比较的时候，我惊讶地发现，所有来自查尔斯岛的都属于一个物种（Mimus trifasciatus），所有来自阿尔伯马尔岛的都属于 M. parvulus；而所有来自詹姆斯岛和查塔姆岛的（这两个岛之间还有另外两个岛，作为连接的环节）都属于 M. melanotis。后面这两个物种关系很近，有些鸟类学家会认为它们只是特征明显的族群或变种；但是 Mimus trifasciatus 是非常不同的。不幸的是，雀类的大多数标本都混在一起了；但是我有充分的理由怀疑，地雀（Geospiza）这个亚类的有些物种局限于各自的岛屿。如果不同的岛屿各有它们的地雀代表，这也许就有助于解释，为什么在这一个小小的群岛上，这个亚类的物种数目特别多，以及作为它们数目众多的一个可能的结果，它们的喙在大小上形成了完全渐变的系列。仙人掌雀（Cactornis）亚类有两个物种，树雀（Camarhynchus）亚类有两个物种，都是在这个群岛上采到的；四个采集者在詹姆斯岛射杀的这两个亚类的大量标本，全都分别属于每一亚类的一个物种；而在查塔姆岛或查尔斯岛射杀的大量标本（因为这两批标本混在一起了），全都属于另外两个物种：因此我们几乎可以确定，这些岛屿各有这两个亚类的代表物种。在陆生贝类方面，这条分布规律似乎不成立。在我很小的一批昆虫标本中，沃特豪斯先生说，凡是标明了产地的，没有一种是任何两个岛上共有的。

This disposition is common to all the terrestrial species; namely, to the mocking-thrushes, the finches, wrens, tyrant-flycatchers, the dove, and carrion-buzzard. All of them often approached sufficiently near to be killed with a switch, and sometimes, as I myself tried, with a cap or hat. A gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk off the branch of a tree. One day, whilst lying down, a mocking-thrush alighted on the edge of a pitcher, made of the shell of a tortoise, which I held in my hand, and began very quietly to sip the water; it allowed me to lift it from the ground whilst seated on the vessel: I often tried, and very nearly succeeded, in catching these birds by their legs. Formerly the birds appear to have been even tamer than at present. Cowley (in the year 1684) says that the "Turtledoves were so tame, that they would often alight upon our hats and arms, so as that we could take them alive, they not fearing man, until such time as some of our company did fire at them, whereby they were rendered more shy." Dampier also, in the same year, says that a man in a morning's walk might kill six or seven dozen of these doves. At present, although certainly very tame, they do not alight on people's arms, nor do they suffer themselves to be killed in such large numbers. It is surprising that they have not become wilder; for these islands during the last hundred and fifty years have been frequently visited by bucaniers and whalers; and the sailors, wandering through the woods in search of tortoises, always take cruel delight in knocking down the little birds. These birds, although now still more persecuted, do not readily become wild. In Charles Island, which had then been colonized about six years, I saw a boy sitting by a well with a switch in his hand, with which he killed the doves and finches as they came to drink. He had already procured a little heap of them for his dinner, and he said that he had constantly been in the habit of waiting by this well for the same purpose. It would appear that the birds of this archipelago, not having as yet learnt that man is a more dangerous animal than the tortoise or the Amblyrhynchus, disregard him, in the same manner as in England shy birds, such as magpies, disregard the cows and horses grazing in our fields.

这种性情是所有陆生鸟类共有的；也就是嘲鸫、雀类、鹪鹩、霸鹟、鸽子和食腐的鵟。它们常常走得很近，近到可以用一根细枝打死，有时，像我亲自试过的那样，可以用一顶便帽或礼帽打死。在这里，枪几乎是多余的；因为我曾用枪口把一只鹰从树枝上推了下去。有一天，我正躺着，一只嘲鸫落在我手里拿着的一只用龟壳做的水罐边上，开始很安静地啜起水来；它停在罐子上，让我把它从地上举起来：我常常试着抓这些鸟的腿，而且差一点就抓住了。从前，这些鸟似乎比现在还要驯顺。考利（1684 年）说，“斑鸠那么驯顺，常常落在我们的帽子上和胳膊上，我们可以活捉它们，它们并不怕人，直到我们的同伴中有人朝它们开了枪，它们才因此变得怕人了。”丹皮尔也在同一年说，一个人早晨散一次步，就可以打死六七打这种鸽子。现在，虽然它们确实还很驯顺，却不落在人的胳膊上了，也不让自己被大量打死了。令人惊讶的是，它们没有变得更野；因为在过去的一百五十年里，这些岛屿常常有海盗和捕鲸者光顾；水手们在树林里四处寻找陆龟时，总是以打落小鸟为残忍的乐趣。这些鸟虽然现在受到更多的迫害，却并不容易变野。在查尔斯岛，那时有人定居已经大约六年了，我看见一个男孩坐在一口井旁，手里拿着一根细枝，鸽子和雀子来喝水时，他就用它把它们打死。他已经弄到了一小堆，做他的晚饭，他说他一向惯于守在这口井边做这件事。看来，这个群岛上的鸟还没有学会人是比陆龟或海鬣蜥更危险的动物，所以并不理会他，就像在英国，喜鹊这种怕人的鸟也不理会在我们田里吃草的牛和马一样。

The Falkland Islands offer a second instance of birds with a similar disposition. The extraordinary tameness of the little Opetiorhynchus has been remarked by Pernety, Lesson, and other voyagers. It is not, however, peculiar to that bird: the Polyborus, snipe, upland and lowland goose, thrush, bunting, and even some true hawks, are all more or less tame. As the birds are so tame there, where foxes, hawks, and owls occur, we may infer that the absence of all rapacious animals at the Galapagos, is not the cause of their tameness here. The upland geese at the Falklands show, by the precaution they take in building on the islets, that they are aware of their danger from the foxes; but they are not by this rendered wild towards man. This tameness of the birds, especially of the water-fowl, is strongly contrasted with the habits of the same species in Tierra del Fuego, where for ages past they have been persecuted by the wild inhabitants. In the Falklands, the sportsman may sometimes kill more of the upland geese in one day than he can carry home; whereas in Tierra del Fuego it is nearly as difficult to kill one, as it is in England to shoot the common wild goose.

福克兰群岛提供了鸟类具有类似性情的第二个例子。佩尔内蒂、莱松和其他航海者都谈到过小小的 Opetiorhynchus 非凡的驯顺。不过这并不是那种鸟所特有的：卡拉卡拉鹰（Polyborus）、沙锥、高地雁和低地雁、画眉、鹀，甚至一些真正的鹰，都或多或少是驯顺的。既然在那里，有狐狸、鹰和猫头鹰的地方，鸟也那么驯顺，我们就可以推断，加拉帕戈斯群岛上没有一切猛兽，并不是这里的鸟驯顺的原因。福克兰群岛的高地雁在小岛上筑巢时所采取的预防措施，表明它们意识到来自狐狸的危险；但是它们并没有因此对人变得野起来。这些鸟，尤其是水禽的驯顺，同火地岛上同样的物种的习性形成鲜明对照，在那里，它们世世代代受到野蛮的居民的迫害。在福克兰群岛，打猎的人有时一天打死的高地雁，比他能带回家的还多；而在火地岛，要打死一只几乎同在英国射杀普通的野雁一样难。

I may add that, according to Du Bois, all the birds at Bourbon in 1571-72, with the exception of the flamingoes and geese, were so extremely tame, that they could be caught by the hand, or killed in any number with a stick. Again, at Tristan d'Acunha in the Atlantic, Carmichael states that the only two land-birds, a thrush and a bunting, were "so tame as to suffer themselves to be caught with a hand-net." From these several facts we may, I think, conclude, first, that the wildness of birds with regard to man, is a particular instinct directed against him, and not dependent on any general degree of caution arising from other sources of danger; secondly, that it is not acquired by individual birds in a short time, even when much persecuted; but that in the course of successive generations it becomes hereditary. With domesticated animals we are accustomed to see new mental habits or instincts acquired and rendered hereditary; but with animals in a state of nature, it must always be most difficult to discover instances of acquired hereditary knowledge. In regard to the wildness of birds towards man, there is no way of accounting for it, except as an inherited habit: comparatively few young birds, in any one year, have been injured by man in England, yet almost all, even nestlings, are afraid of him; many individuals, on the other hand, both at the Galapagos and at the Falklands, have been pursued and injured by man, but yet have not learned a salutary dread of him. We may infer from these facts, what havoc the introduction of any new beast of prey must cause in a country, before the instincts of the indigenous inhabitants have become adapted to the stranger's craft or power.

我还可以补充说，根据杜布瓦的记载，1571–72 年在波旁岛，除了火烈鸟和雁以外，所有的鸟都极其驯顺，可以用手抓住，或者用一根棍子打死任意多只。还有，在大西洋的特里斯坦－达库尼亚岛，卡迈克尔说，岛上仅有的两种陆鸟，一种画眉和一种鹀，“驯顺到让人用手网捕捉”。根据这几个事实，我想我们可以断定：第一，鸟对人的野性，是专门针对人的一种特殊本能，并不依赖于由其他危险来源所引起的任何一般程度的谨慎；第二，即使受到很多迫害，个别的鸟也不会在短时间内获得这种野性；而是在相继的世代中，它变成了遗传的。在家养动物身上，我们惯于看到新的心理习惯或本能被获得并变成遗传的；但是在自然状态下的动物身上，要发现后天获得的遗传知识的例子，总是极其困难的。至于鸟对人的野性，除了把它看作一种遗传的习惯以外，没有别的办法可以解释：在英国，任何一年里被人伤害的幼鸟相对来说都很少，然而几乎所有的鸟，甚至雏鸟，都怕人；另一方面，在加拉帕戈斯群岛和福克兰群岛，许多个体都曾被人追逐和伤害，却还没有学会对人有一种有益的恐惧。我们可以从这些事实推断出，在一个地方引进任何一种新的猛兽，在本地居民的本能还没有适应这个陌生者的狡诈或力量之前，必定会造成怎样的浩劫。