BIRDS FROM CLIPPERTON ISLAND COLLECTED ON 

 THE PRESIDENTIAL CRUISE OF 1938 



By ALEXANDER WETMORE 

 Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution 



Clipperton Island, the most eastern atoll in the Pacific Ocean, like 

 most uninhabited tropical islands of its type, is the home of large 

 numbers of sea birds, but not until the Presidential Cruise of 1938 

 did the National Museum have the opportunity of obtaining certain 

 desirable specimens of its avifauna. 



A party from the U. S. S. Houston landed on Clipperton for shore 

 collecting on July 21, when, through the active interest of Lt. Comdr. 

 T. J. Kelly of the vessel, and Michael Reilly, of the President's 

 personal staff, a series of 34 birds was obtained. 



On leaving the island it was necessary, because of rough water, to 

 carry the specimens out through the surf in a burlap sack. On ship- 

 board they were wrapped in cheesecloth and then frozen. Held in this 

 condition until the conclusion of the cruise, they were then packed in 

 dry ice, shipped to Washington from Pensacola, and placed in cold 

 storage until made up in the taxidermy shop of the Museum. Thus 

 handled the specimens came through in first-class condition and 

 yielded excellent study skins. 



Following are notes on the species obtained : * 



Family SULIDAE 



SULA LEUCOGASTER NESIOTES Heller and Snodgrass 



Clipperton Island Booby 



Snla nesiotes Heller and Snodgrass, Condor, vol. 3, May 1901, p. 75 (Clip- 

 perton Island). 



Five adult males, two adult females, an immature male and three 

 young of assorted size in the down constitute an excellent series of 

 this bird, the first from this locality to come to the National Museum. 

 These skins are important in indicating that the Clipperton bird, 

 currently considered identical with Sala leucogaster brewsteri of Baja 



1 For a list of the birds of Clipperton Island see Snodgrass, R. E., and Heller, 

 E., Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 4, Sept. 30, 1902, pp. 501-520. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 98, No. 22 



