birds number among their group a peculiar bittern (Ardetta sinensis) called the kakkag by the Chamorros; the common reef heron of the Pacific (Demiegretta sacra) called the chuchuko, which is not rare but extremely wary and hard to approach; and two rails (Hypotaenidia owstoni) and (Poliolimnas cinereus) called the koko. In former times both these birds were caught by the Chamorros with bamboo snares laid along jungle trails near the shore. A widely distributed water hen or gallinule (Gallinula cloropus) called a pulatal is considered exceptionally fine eating.
Guam has no sea gulls. Noddies (Anous leucocapillus) are quite common, however, and there is a beautiful snow-white tern seemingly quite unafraid of the modern industrial bustle, still quite prevalent in the vicinity of Inner Apra Harbor. It optimistically lays a single white egg on the bare branches of trees. The common booby (Sula sula) is a daily sight off the cliffs of Orote Peninsula, and the red-footed booby (Sula piscator) with white plumage also appears in this area. These acrobatic boobies pursue flying fish and dart down from great heights into the surf, plummeting through the air in a streak of white feathers.
REPTILES AND INSECTS
Guam has few reptiles. Most conspicuous among these is a giant lizard (Varanus indicus), an iguana of four feet or more in length, although many reliable sources put the length up to eight feet. Its general color is dark brown with a speckling of lemon yellow. Sometimes against the jungle perspective it appears muddy green, at other times almost yellow-brown. Laura Thompson in her absorbing social study of the island entitled Guam and Its People retells a native Chamorro legend of how the giant iguana got its color.
"Once," her story goes, "according to a favorite tale, the iguana had a beautiful voice of which she was very proud. The mockingbird said, 'Truly your voice is sweet, but my feathers are the most beautiful.' The iguana went immediately to a certain quail noted for her wisdom. 'How ugly your black feathers are! Can't you paint yourself to look more attractive?' she said. 'And can't you paint yourself to change that green coat of yours?' replied the quail. So they agreed to paint each other and the iguana said, 'I'm so tired, won't you paint me first?' Then the quail, using her feathers as a brush and her eggs as paint, gave the iguana a yellow coat which, when hard, was smooth and shiny. 'Now it's my turn,' said the quail. But the iguana was so pleased that she began to sing and ran quickly away. 'May your tongue split for playing such a trick!' cried the quail and since that day the iguana's tongue has been split and she has lost her beautiful voice."
Legend or not, the hilitai or iguana is a bird-eating lizard and would probably not have stopped to converse with the quail before pouncing on it. The reptile is a great pest, a marauder of chicken coops and an eater of small wild birds and eggs. It has even been known to attack dogs in self-defense when it was cornered. On the neighboring island of Rota, where the high almost impenetrable mesa dominates the larger portion of the small island, the sparse native population and the underdevelopment of land offer the perfect protective combination for the hilitais, and they have been able to breed themselves to larger and lustier dimensions. I have seen captured lizards there that measure almost six feet in length and closely resemble some formidable prehistoric dragon. The iguana's flesh is sometimes eaten, and its hide is occasionally substituted for domestic commercial leather in the fashioning of belts, bags, and small purses.
In the jungles lives a handsome blue-tailed skink (Emoia cyanura), a tiny lizard with longitudinal bronze lines along its back and a skittering turquoise tail. It is a harmless and beautiful creature and sight of it is said to bring good luck.
More domesticated, invading most of the houses on Guam, is the harmless and helpful little gecko (commonest of six varieties is Sepidodactylis lugubris), called the gualiig by natives. After first acquaintance with it, one becomes thoroughly accustomed to seeing several about the house, as they spend many nocturnal hours catching insects. The pads of their toes are so constructed that they are able to run up vertical walls and walk upside down across a smooth ceiling and over rafters and beams. Sometimes they will cling for hours to the vertical metal screening of porches and breezeways, waiting with motionless patience for the passage of moths, mosquitoes, and any other insects attracted to lights shining into the darkness from the interior of a house. It is not unusual to see three or four of them pursuing one hapless insect, approaching it like so many stealthy cats after a lazy bird. They utter a chirping, birdlike sound, quite loud and insistent, and they are generally known as "island canaries." It is not difficult, in fact, on hearing their voices for the first time, to imagine the voices of birds. When frightened they sometimes shed their tails and dart away to a safe corner or crevice. I have heard natives say that it is considered very bad luck to kill them, and they are esteemed in native houses and left unmolested in their hunting much as the European cricket was, and still is—as an omen of good fortune.
Guam's only snake is a blind earthworm with microscopic eyes, about six inches long. It looks more like a giant earthworm than a reptile, though it is minutely scaled. Like the salamander of Western America, its habitat is the damp places beneath rocks and building foundations. Turtles are common sights while one is reef or boat fishing near the shoreline. In aboriginal times they were caught from outrigger canoes, but this art is lost, as is the need for the turtles. Their shells were of great value in former days, and pieces were used for money and jewelry.
Insect life on Guam is not too varied, but there is an abundance of all species of the mosquito and the stinging ant. The mosquito on Guam is non-malarial; mosquito nets have not been much used since the advent of modern screening and the use of insecticides. Nevertheless, their presence in oppressive weather can be a great nuisance.
The stinging ant (solenopsis) is another matter, for its persistency is well known to the natives of Guam and will soon impress the visitor. Foraging as they do in expeditions, they will cross any obstacle in a straight line and have even been known to kill baby chickens with their considerable sting. Fleas are rare; the humid climate is not agreeable to their propagation, and lice and bedbugs are virtually unheard of. They are so rare that the aboriginals blamed their original introduction to Guam on the early navigators landing at Umatac.
Two species of butterflies formerly unknown to science were discovered on Guam by the Freycinet expedition during its several months' stay on the island in 1819. There are several handsome dragonflies to be found in the interior valleys near water and some large water bugs that skate over stagnant pools.
The white ant or termite causes extensive damage on the island, despite efforts to exterminate it. Whole houses, seemingly sturdy, have collapsed after an army of these industrious eaters have devoured its sub-surface insides. Nor do they stop at dead wood; they are known to attack live trees.
There is a small scorpion on Guam whose sting is not dangerous, and several spiders exist, none of them poisonous. Centipedes are common and have a painful though not serious bite. They are often found under stones or dead wood, and the female may be surrounded by a brood of young.
The social wasp (P. hebraeus) is a most interesting insect. As mentioned previously, it spends the greater part of the year in the open country, nesting in bushes where it builds its pendant larvae cells. In the dry months from December on, it invades the eaves of houses. Sometimes it will infiltrate to the interior of a house in great numbers, massing like bees in corners and rafters. The cell-making wasp will fill all available openings with repeating cells and can be found to have plastered a nest in rolled-up papers and under the lids of long-unused boxes and cases. No possible nesting place in a house is safe from this busy insect. It is not uncommon to unroll a stored map, a calendar, or a picture and find a group of these dried mud cells attached securely to the inside of the roll.
FISHES
Although today fishing on Guam has only a minor importance in comparison to its role at the time of the 1898 occupation, still many Chamorro natives net-fish in the shallow reef waters about the island, catching various small fish that move in schools through the clear water of the lagoons. Fresh-water fish have never been highly prized by the indigenous
