ALBx\TROSSES 



79 



the birds. For several months they slaughtered 

 diligently and without mercy. Apparently it was 

 the ambition of Schlemiiier to kill every bird on 

 the island. 



" By the time the bird butchers had accumu- 

 lated between three and four carloads of wings, 

 and the carnage was half finished, William A. 

 Bryan, professor of zoology in the College of 

 Honolulu, heard of it and promptlv wired the 

 United States Government. Without the loss of 

 a moment the Secretary of the Navy dispatched 

 the revenue cutter Thetis to the shambles of Lay- 

 san. \MTen Captain Jacobs arrived he found that 

 in round numbers about three hundred thousand 

 birds had been destroyed, and all that remained of 

 them were several acres of bones and dead bodies, 

 and about three carloads of wings, feathers 

 end skins. The twenty-three Japanese poachers 

 were arrested and taken to Honolulu for trial, 

 and the Tlictis also brought away all of the stolen 

 wings and plumage, with the exception of a 

 shedful of wings that had to be left behind on 

 account of lack of carrying space." 



In 191 1, the Iowa State University sent to 

 Laysan a scientific expedition under charge of 

 Professor Homer R. Dill. His report on the 

 conditions he found is a terrible indictment, from 

 which the following may be quoted : " An old 

 cistern back of one of the buildings tells a story 

 of cruelty^ that surpasses anything else done by 

 these heartless, sanguinary pirates, not excepting 

 the practice of cutting wings from living birds 

 and leaving them to die of hemorrhage. In this 

 dry cistern the living birds were kept by hundreds 

 to slowdy starve to death. In this way the fatty 

 tissue lying next to the skin was used up, and 

 the skin was left quite free from grease so that 

 it required little or no cleaning during prepara- 

 tion. Many other revolting sights, such as the 

 remains of young birds that had been left to 

 starve, and birds with broken w'ings and de- 

 formed beaks were to be seen. Killing clubs, 

 nets, and other implements used by these ma- 

 rauders were lying all about. 



" This wholesale killing has had an appalling 

 effect upon the colony. It is conservative to say 

 that fully one-half the number of birds of both 

 species of Albatross that were so abundant in 

 1903 have been killed. The colonies that remain 

 are in a sadly decimated condition." 



The prompt and effective interference of the 

 Government was due to the fact that in Febru- 

 ary, 1909, President Roosevelt issued an execu- 

 tive order creating the Hawaiian Island Reserva- 

 tion for Birds, which includes Laysan Island and 

 \'oi.. I — 7 



several other islands and reefs. But for that 

 interference, the Laysan Albatross might have 

 been reduced to a point which would have seri- 

 ously threatened it with extermination. 



Scientifically the Albatross is best known 

 through Mr. Walter K. Fisher's photographs and 

 descriptions. In May, 1902. he visited the Island 

 of Laysan, where he found the Black-footed and 

 Laysan Albatrosses breeding in great numbers. 

 His account of their nesting habits, courting 

 antics, and peculiar dances is well worth reading. 



In the .4iik for January, 1904, he writes: " The 

 Albatross lays one egg on the ground, usually in 

 a slightly raised mound with a shallow basin in 

 the top. . . . The ei:::g is laid about the middle 

 of November. . . . The young are not hatched 

 until February, and then begin the six months of 

 hard work to feed the hungry babies. They grow 

 slowly, for birds, and it is not till the last of 

 July that the most venturesome follow their 

 parents on short flights to the sea. A few weeks 

 later all are on the wing, and with the old birds 

 they scatter far and wide over the Pacific." 



Speaking of the peculiar dance of the Alba- 

 trosses, Mr. Fisher says, " The old birds have an 

 innate objection to idleness, and so for their 

 diversion they spend much time in a curious 

 dance, or perhaps more appropriately a ' cake- 

 walk.' ... At first two birds approach one an- 

 other, bowing profoundly and stepping heavily. 

 They swagger about each other, courtesying 

 solemnly, then suddenly begin to fence a little, 

 crossing bills and whetting them together, some- 

 times with a whistling sound, meanwhile pecking 

 and dropping stiff little bows. All at once one 

 lifts its closed wing and nibbles at the feathers 

 beneath, or rarely, if in a hurry, quickly turns its 

 head. The partner during this short perform- 

 ance assumes a statuesque pose, and either looks 

 mechanically from side to side, or snaps its bill 

 loudly a few times. Then, the first bird bows 

 once, and ])ointing its head and beak straight 

 upward, rises on its toes, puft's out its breast, 

 and utters a prolonged nasal Ah-h-h-h. with a 

 rapidly rising inflection and bovine quality. . . . 

 Often both birds raise their heads in air and 

 favor the appreciative audience with that ridicu- 

 lous and indescribable bovine groan. . . . Occa- 

 sionally while ' cake-walking ' one will lightly 

 pick up a straw or twig, and present it to the 

 other, who does not accept the gift, however, 

 but thereupon returns the compliment, when 

 straws are promptly drojjped. and all hands be- 

 gin bowing and walking about as if their very 

 lives depended upon it." George Gladden. 



