On the Origin of Species presents a constant stream of world and character riddles: an island with conflicting histories; a cold-blooded schoolmistress warmed by a passionate heart; a cautious captain who's up for anything (Fletcher 93). "How strange is it that a bird, under the form of woodpecker, should have been created to prey on insects on the ground; that upland geese, which never or rarely swim, should have been created with webbed feet." "When on board H.M.S. "Beagle," as a naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts [that] seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species--that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers.