222 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



ninety-two thousand reached San Francisco. The 

 eggs were worth from twelve to twenty cents a 

 dozen in the city. 



A corporation also undertook to handle the 

 eggs and guano of the Laysan Island albatross 

 rookery. Narrow-gage tram lines were laid over 

 the island for the purpose of collecting the guano. 

 During the breeding season the eggs were gath- 

 ered by the car-load and rolled to a central ship- 

 ping-point where they could be placed on a vessel, 

 or be cooked up for the guano diggers if food hap- 

 pened to be running short. 



But, by the enactment of State laws, and through 

 the making of government preserves out of the 

 remnants of the sea-bird rookeries, egg hunting 

 is now unlawful in the United States and Canada. 

 Poachers still continue to take a small toll, but 

 their raids are insignificant compared with what 

 went on fifty years ago. The rookeries are at 

 last regaining the numerical strength which was 

 theirs in the days of our great-grandfathers. 



3 

 Edible Bird Nests 



Though of far less general utility as food than 

 the eggs of birds, the nests of a small group of 

 swifts which inhabit southeastern Asia and most 

 of the adjacent islands are sometimes eaten. These 

 swifts are tiny creatures ranging from three and 



