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THE
LITTLE
WHITE TERN

OF

THE PACIFIC

The little white tern (Gygis alba kittlitzi), or the "love bird" of the Pacific, is not common on Laysan, for it has been mercilessly slaughtered by poachers. Only three pairs of the terns were nesting on Laysan at the time of our arrival and one little brown chick hatched out the first day. Two months later he was flying about in company with his parents. This species lays only one egg, usually on an exposed rock with no nest whatever, but occasionally the egg may be found balanced precariously on a bare branch. Whenever an intruder wanders near the brooding birds they flutter about examining him curiously. As the birds hover overhead their dark eyes seem all out of propor tion in size, and their rather harsh monotonous voice inappropriate for delicate

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such
creatures.

The

young cling tenaciously to the nest, and the parent feeds them with small silvery fishes which she carries crosswise in her beak, two or more at a time. The safety of this species seems assured, notwithstanding the persecution on Laysan, for the birds are found by thousands on Necker, French Frigate Rock, and Bird Island,

where they nest
among the inac-

cessible cliffs.

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Successful experiments have been conducted on sandy wastes in the Pacific in the transplantation of a species of sait grass from California. The time has now come to reclaim the slopes of Laysan Island because of the ravages of a rapidly multiplying rabbit horde. The rabbits, which were introduced about 1903, are destroying the vegetation and will turn the already inhospitable island into a desert unless they can soon be reduced. It will be difficult, however, to exterminate the pests owing to the presence of thousands of petrel and shearwater burrows which afford safe hiding

found to the square yard. But the little white tern, the "Love Bird of the Pacific," is the most beautiful of all, white of plumage with an indescribable flush given by the salmon color which veins. the tail and wing feathers, and with deep-set black eyes and glossy beak. As

they poise a few feet overhead, white against the light sky, they are the most interesting studies in light and shade imaginable. They lay a single egg on an exposed rock, although I saw one egg deposited on the limb of a bush in a depression scarcely larger around than

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The man-o'-war bird rises from the nest awkwardly, sprawling over the bushes, but once on the wing he is a powerful flier, soaring to great heights in an almost total calm. The immature birds (recognized in the photograph by the white feathers of the head) are playful and dart at the visitor with open mouth, but although very formidable-looking they can inflict no injury

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On Laysan the man-o'-war birds build their nests among the bushes, using a miscellaneous heap of sticks and vines. They build several weeks before the time to lay the eggs, and spend the intervening days holding down their claims, for such is the competition in the matter of space and nesting materials that if they leave the nest unguarded it is soon appropriated, as a whole or piecemeal, by neighbors. (See appearance of the inflated gular pouch when the bird is in flight, page 382)

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birds and make a welcome addition to the old frigate's domain. It is common to see one of these beautiful white birds go squawking through the air, closely

The black-footed albatross (Diomedea nigripes) is especially a bird of grace and power, a wanderer on the high seas for most of the year, but in season a careful attendant upon domestic duties. In the presence of a human visitor the parent takes great pride in her offspring, but stands ready to resent any undue familiarity. With the offspring of her neighbors, however, the parent albatross shows impatience, and not infrequently trounces all undefended nestlings in the vicinity. The young birds when approached by the visitor become excited, snap their bills, and may even attempt to charge

go, as we watch, until they gradually disappear from view. The solemn-looking blue-faced booby and the smaller, more graceful red-footed booby nest in near proximity to these man-o'-war

pursued by several old man-o'war birds.

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the

If

booby is

heavily laden with fish, he is soon overtaken, and if he does not disgorge gracefully, the man-o'-war usually grabs him by the tail and turns him completely over, thus persuading him. His resource is to alight as quickly as possible, for his long-winged enemy is helpless on the ground.

Laysan, on our visit, was still a bird paradise, and this in spite of the fact that a few years previous it had been raided by poachers who killed, it is estimated, at least 180,000 birds. We judged that during our stay there were

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half as many terns, and a few odd thousands of other species. There were not many more birds on Laysan at that time than the poachers had killed. At the Waikiki dumping grounds in Honolulu

NOTES ON OUR HAWAIIAN RESERVATION

we destroyed eleven wagonloads of the feathers and wings which had been collected by the poachers, besides a whole shedful left on Laysan when the revenue cutter "Thetis" took off the poachers with their plunder. I will not go into detail about the barbarous methods used in the slaughter, cutting off the wings and allowing the birds to die of hemorrhage, and other equally savage practices.

When we were on the island, even though the birds had been so terribly persecuted such a short time before, they were responding to the renewed favorable conditions; and now they will soon replenish their devastated colonies if adequate precaution is taken to prevent another raid. Before the war the island was protected by the revenue cutter which made several trips a year into those waters, which proved often enough to prevent a well-established raid. The poachers were on Laysan at the time the island was made into a reservation, and their plundering was well along before the officers had the authority to interrupt the ravages. Because of late the war has interfered with our work of protection, advantage may be taken of our unpreparedness, and another raid, more serious than the first, is perhaps to be feared.

But Laysan's worst enemy is within her own borders, and if relief is not offered soon, the island will become a waste of drifting sand. Rabbits were introduced a good many years ago and have increased to such an extent that they now overrun the island. The vegetation is being depleted so rapidly by them that there is danger the little indigenous birds will perish. The bushes, which once offered favorable nesting sites, are girdled, the bunch grass undermined and destroyed. Even the trailing vines are disappearing, and the loose coral sand, no longer anchored by a network of roots, shifts in

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great clouds at every turn of the wind. The sea birds could go elsewhere, of course, but their inherited tendency to return year after year is strong, and their young perish in uncountable numbers. The winds start the sands drifting, and the young birds are smothered under the forming dunes. Young albatrosses start toddling with the swiftmoving sea of sand, become exhausted, and are soon covered over. The little petrels, nesting underground, are the most terribly punished. I have found them where they had worked their way to the surface of their filled burrows and, unable to go farther, had died with their heads just above ground, buried alive, and not one or two, but thousands.

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We killed more than five thousand rabbits by actual count, and that should be a help, but by now the pests will be as numerous as ever, and it is strongly recommended that something systematic be done to lessen their numbers, and something also to increase the vegetation. There is a tobacco which has in some way been introduced on the island; this seems to be increasing in abundance. But the tussock grasses, so necessary to hold the soil to the inner slope, the Chenopodium, and various bushes are fast disappearing. Rapidgrowing forms which will hold the sand should be introduced,-the good work of reclaiming the waste land of Midway is proof that the work can be done, but it should not be delayed.

The late Theodore Roosevelt established that great Hawaiian reservation in 1909, along with many others in this country. Roosevelt is gone now, and his many friends and admirers are seeking to establish monuments to perpetuate his memory. A Roosevelt Foundation for the Protection of Wild Life would be a fitting memorial and would meet many such emergencies as that of Laysan.

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