340 Bryan, Yellow Canary of Midway Island. [jidy 



rounded by a narrow circular reef six miles in diameter. Sand, 

 the larger of the two, is now occupied by the cable station and the 

 comfortable quarters established by the company. The buildings 

 are surrounded by a number of introduced trees and shrubs, but 

 at the time of my visit in 1902, an account of which I have else- 

 where published,^ it was an uninhabited shimmering white pile of 

 sand on which during my short stay I was able to collect only six 

 species of littoral plants. From the nearby Eastern islet I was 

 able to secure ten species of grasses, vines and low growing shrubs, 

 -^ species that are common on the coral islands in the group. 



For the ornithologist, interest ordinarily centers about the great 

 colony of countless thousands of sea birds that represent the dozen 

 or more species making the island their home. But for the 

 present we are especially concerned with the birds that have been 

 introduced on Midway and particularly with the establishment 

 of the Yellow Canary there. I therefore quote from the letter 

 written me December 15th, 1911, by Mr. D. Morrison who for a 

 number of years has been the superintendent in charge on the 

 island in reply to my request for the data concerning the acclima- 

 tization of the "Song-birds" on Midway. 



" I assure you that it is a pleasure to learn of your interest in the 

 matter and I am only too willing to furnish you with the particulars 

 which you are at liberty to make whatever use of you wish. 



" Yellow Canaries (called by us Canton Canaries) : — In 

 March, 1909, I purchased a pair of these birds from the crew of the 

 S. S. Siberia in Honolulu harbour. They had a number of them in 

 the forecastle which were to be sold for whatever they would bring 

 upon arrival at San Francisco. I brought them to Midway Island 

 in separate cages at the end of the same month. They were put 

 together in a breeding cage in January 1910 and the female started 

 with five eggs none of which hatched out. 



" A month later she laid seven eggs out of which six healthy birds 

 were hatched. 



" In April she laid six eggs and hatched out four birds. 



"Some weeks later seven eggs were laid none of which hatched 

 out. 



I Report of a Visit to Midway Island by Wm. Alanson Bryan. Occas. Papers 

 B. P. Bishop Mus., Vol. II. No. 4. pp. 37-45. 



