Destruction by Man 57 



islets, rocks, and reefs, which like so many truant 

 children, straggle off from the main Hawaiian 

 group in the direction of Japan ; specks of land 

 insignificant enough perhaps when judged by 

 human standards, but great residential centers 

 and nurseries for the unnumbered sea-fowl which 

 call them "home/' The great white albatross, 

 King of the Pacific, whom we see on tireless wing, 

 levying tribute on the very borders of his do- 

 mains, carries in his brain a chart of these islands, 

 and he has his capital at Laysan. How long this 

 islet has been inhabited by its feathered popula- 

 tion no man can tell, but doubtless for ages. 

 Small as it is, barely three miles long, it was a 

 few years ago the home of millions of birds, 

 including five species found nowhere else in 

 the world. Practically every square yard was 

 occupied, and thousands of late comers were 

 obliged to go away because there was no room for 

 them. In fact there are so many bird homes on 

 Laysan, that the tenants are obliged to live in 

 tenement fashion, some underground in burrows, 

 others on the surface, and others still in the 

 bushes above. And quite unlike other bird 

 homes, these are used all the year round ; not by 

 the same tenants to be sure, for at the very 

 moment when the families of one species are 

 ready to move out, those of another species are 



