MID-PACIFIC BIRD RESERVATION. 157 



the most important of nature's seed carriers. Viscid and hooked 

 seeds attach to their plumage, or seeds may be carried in smears of 

 earth or mud on feathers, bill, or feet. Such seeds may be trans- 

 ported indefinite distances and, once in a thousand years or so, 

 dropped on soil favorable to growth. The members of the most 

 recent expedition to the island, the Nutting party in 1911, were espe- 

 cially requested to examine carefully all their specimens of Laysan 

 birds for the presence of seeds, and actually found attached to the 

 foot of a Laysan albatross a seed of a species of the bean-caper 

 family, which is generally distributed in the South Sea islands. So 

 far as known the plant does not grow on Laysan, and had this seed 

 chanced to fall in a favorable spot the flora of the island might have 

 been enriched by another species. A still more striking instance of 

 a bird acting as a carrier of seeds was observed several years ag"o 

 by Mr. Bryan on Marcus Island, where he found no fewer than 40 

 seeds of a tree of the madder family adhering to the feathers of a 

 shearwater. These and other similar facts show how the flora of 

 oceanic islands may be transported by birds from island to island or 

 from continents to distant shores. 



RABBITS AS A MENACE TO VEGETATION. 



Unfortunately, rabbits were introduced into Laysan a few years 

 ago, and now they threaten the very existence of the island vegeta- 

 tion. Thus Mr. Bryan reports that many plants abundant at the 

 time of his former visit in 1903 had completely disappeared by 

 1910. Others, though still living, showed the marks of girdling by 

 the hungry rodents, a sure indication of their impending fate. If 

 found impracticable to exterminate these mischievous mammals, it 

 is hoped so to reduce their numbers as to render them incapable of 

 much harm. The destruction of the island vegetation would be 

 unfortunate for the bird reservation for many reasons, especially 

 as it would end most of the insect life upon which depends the exist- 

 ence of the land birds and greatly reduce the number of breeding 

 sea birds, several species of which nest in bushes or on trees. The 

 shrubbery is necessary also to protect young birds from the rays of 

 the burning sun. 



THE NUTTING EXPEDITION OF 1911. 



When the Iowa State University requested the cooperation of 

 the Department of Agriculture for the purpose of securing for its 

 museum representative groups of Laysan birds, the opportunity was 

 welcomed, since it enabled the department to obtain an authentic 

 report on the present condition of the avian colonies on the island 

 as a basis for protective measures. The expedition, composed of 5 

 persons, was organized, though not accompanied, by Prof. C. C. 

 Nutting, and by him placed under the immediate charge of Prof. 

 Homer R. Dill. Prof. William A. Bryan, of the Oahu College, 



