Page "Geography of Bermuda" Paragraph 11

There were few species of land animal in Bermuda before the arrival of humans.

The only vertebrate species was the Bermuda skink, or rock lizard ( Eumeces longirostris ).

These were quite numerous, but have become rare due to predation by introduced species, and, especially, the introduction of glass bottles, in which they easily become trapped.

Unlike the introduced anoles, their feet are unable to adhere to glass.

Their range had been largely reduced to small islands of Castle Harbour, but they have re-colonised the mainland, and their numbers are increasing.

The only other large land animals found on the island were crustaceans, notably two species of land crab, including the rare Giant Land Crab ( Cardisoma quantami ).

Insects included the endemic, ground-burrowing Solitary Bee, which has not been observed for several decades and is believed extinct.

The native cicada also became extinct with the loss of the juniper forest.

Other native insects survive, including the migratory Monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ), which has become threatened due to the loss of milkweed, which has been eradicated as a weed.

The most numerous animals were, and are, birds.

Several native species are related to North American species, including the Eastern Bluebird ( Sialia sialis ), and the White-eyed Vireo ( Vireo griseus bermudianus ).

Both of these were common, but have suffered from loss of habitat, from competition for nest sites with introduced House Sparrows ( Passer domesticus ), and nest-predation by European Starlings ( Sturnus vulgaris ) and Great Kiskadees ( Pitangus sulphuratus )-this last species was deliberately introduced as late as 1957, with the intent that it would control the previously introduced anoles.

Other native birds, including the Gray Catbird, have suffered from the same causes.

The most famous Bermudian bird is the endemic Bermuda Petrel ( Pterodroma cahow ), or Cahow.

This is a pelagic seabird which had dug burrows for its nests.

Humans are believed to have killed millions of them after settlement began in 1609, and feral pigs, introduced presumably by Spaniards decades before, also attacked their nests.

Before the 17th Century was over, the Cahow was believed to be extinct.

After sightings of the bird at sea, a young Bermudian, David B. Wingate, theorised Cahows might still be nesting on rocky islets of Castle Harbour.

He visited these islets with ornithologists Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S. Mowbray in 1951 and discovered a handful of nesting pairs.

Under Wingate's supervision, a conservation programme has steadily increased the Cahow's numbers.

Species that arrived by natural dispersion and become native after human settlement include the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ), and the Mourning Dove ( Zenaida macroura ).