58 Wild Bird Guests 



waiting to move in. There is no "quiet" season 

 in Laysan; it is the scene of strange and ceaseless 

 activity from year's end to year's end, forever. 



This, in a general way, is the impression I got 

 from a story told me by Mr. Walter K. Fisher, 

 the ornithologist who formed one of the party 

 aboard the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer 

 Albatross, which from March to August, 1902, 

 was engaged in deep-sea explorations among the 

 Hawaiian Islands. 



Standing on a pile of phosphate rock not far 

 from a little pond, one could overlook the largest 

 colony of white albatrosses on the island and 

 probably the largest in the world. At certain 

 times of the day this whole section was literally 

 white with the snowy plumage of these great 

 sea-birds, actually numbering more than a 

 million individuals. Overhead one might see 

 and hear tens of thousands of terns, apparently 

 all screaming at once and creating such a vol- 

 ume of bewildering noise that one was obliged 

 to shout in order to make oneself heard. In 

 another part of the island there were colonies 

 of the black-footed albatross, which while not 

 so numerous, would have been considered re- 

 markable almost anywhere else but in Laysan. 

 Birds' eggs were everywhere, and it was prac- 

 tically impossible to move about without de- 



