THE BIRD HOOK FRIES OF LAY SAN. 



321 



THE BTKD EOOKERIES ON THE ISLAND OF LAYSAN.* 



By Professor C. C. NUTTIN'G, 

 state university of iowa. 



PERHAPS the most interesting experience enjoyed by the natural- 

 ists of the U. S. S. Albatross during lier recent Hawaiian cruise 

 was a visit to Laysan, an island situated almost in mid Pacific, about 

 eight hundred miles to the west and a little to the north of Honolulu. 

 As viewed from the anchorage, a more uninteresting bit of land 



could hardly be found, there being • 



nothing in view save a stretch of 

 coral sand beach surmounted by 

 low bushes and relieved by a wooden 

 light-house and the sheds of the 

 guano company that leases the 

 island. On the morning of our 

 arrival the surf was the worst seen 

 during the entire cruise. Nowhere 

 did there appear to be a spot where 

 the heavy swell did not break in 

 thundering roars, and the rollers 

 appeared to be at least twenty feet 

 high. One of our party succeeded 

 in making a landing in a small 

 boat manned by Japanese, and thus 

 secured a day with the camera 

 ashore on the far-famed island of 

 Laysan, and the experience was one 

 not soon to be forgotten. 



The road to the main albatross 

 rookery is of the same white coral 



sand that covers almost the whole island. The glare is exceedingly 

 trying to the eyes, and the heat would be oppressive to one who found 

 time to think of it. Birds are everywhere, and so tame that they 

 actually have to be shoved aside with the foot. The road was dotted 

 with the young of the white albatross, with a sprinkling of adults. 

 The youngsters were but three months old, although fully as large 



Fig. 1. Like Great Brown Goslings, bal- 

 anced on their heels, with their toes in the 

 air. 



* Published with the permission of Hoji. George M. Bowers, U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Fish and Fisheries. 



VOL. LXIII. 



-21. 



