28 EXPEDITION TO LAYSAN ISLAND IN 1911. 



The struggle for existence on Laysan is most keen at all times. 

 The inevitable operation of the law of nature that balances the food 

 supply with the number to be fed is as effective on this sand island as 

 it is everywhere else in the world. As a matter of fact, a marked 

 reduction in the number of pairs of all the land birds can be noticed as 

 compared with the number of the same species on the island eight years 

 ago. The Laysan canary, Miller bird, Laysan honey eater, and the 

 Laysan rail, without doubt, are doomed to extermination on the 

 isolated island on which they have maintained themselves long 

 enough to develop into distinct species, unless something is done to 

 preserve for them the source of their food supply. 



Rare as the Laysan teal has always been, it is gratifying to find that 

 it has not been wiped out of existence. Eight years ago there were 

 several small flocks of this interesting bird, which is without doubt 

 the rarest wild duck in the world. This year only seven adult birds 

 were seen during an entire day especially devoted to watching for it 

 on the small fresh-water lake and the main lagoon the natural 

 rallying place for the species. Ducks were seen on five of the seven 

 days spent on shore, but there were by no means as many of them as 

 there were on the occasion of my former visit. One pair seen had a 

 flock of five young following them. Thus it will be seen that while 

 this rare species is not extinct, as was greatly feared, it is so rare that 

 there are probably not more than a half dozen adult pairs on the 

 island at this time. 



Even after the wholesale slaughter of the birds and the result it 

 had on their nesting and mating habits, the birds remain as fearless 

 as ever. There is not a species on Laysan that can not be caught in 

 the hands with a little care and patience. One pair of ducks, for 

 example, came up within 6 feet of the writer, a lack of fear which 

 would make the species an easy one to exterminate should poachers 

 at any time make another raid on the island inhabitants. 



Rabbits now literally swarm over the island by thousands. The 

 amount of damage done by them can better be imagined than told. 

 They are exterminating first one species of plant then another. 

 Several species that were common everywhere eight years ago have 

 entirely gone, others are already doomed. Unless some drastic 

 measures are resorted to within a very short time not a bush or spear 

 of grass will be alive. 



There is no indication that the islands of Laysan and Lysianski 

 have been visited by hunting vessels since the last visit of the Thetis. 

 It is to be hoped that for the time being at least the traffic in birds' 

 wings and feathers has been broken up in these waters. However, 

 there is no assurance that it will not be renewed without notice, hence 

 the necessity for continuing the service of the Thetis or a similar 

 vessel, and the necessity of making frequent visits at irregular inter- 

 vals to all of the islands of the reservation. 



