322 XATrRAL IlISTOEY OF HAWAII. 



Old 'Stump Leg.' 



It is interesting- to know that once the joiirne}^ is successfully made, bar- 

 ring accident the voyager is able ever afterwards to make the passage with 

 unerring accuracy. An interesting case in point is the record I secured from 

 ^Ir. ]\Iax Schlemmer, who for several years was the manager of the colony of 

 hiborers formerly stationed on the little sand island of Laysan. This island is 

 but a mile and a half across by two miles in length. Nevertheless, plover 

 occur tliere in large flocks each winter season. 



On one occasion a fine male bird that was in the habit of roosting every 

 night on a little mound of sand a few rods fi-om the door of the manager's 

 house, attracted his attention as it fluttered about on the sand apparently 

 unable to fly. Picking it up it was found that a bunch of hair and refuse was 

 wound about the liird's foot and leg, and that this had been added to with 

 dirt and sand until a bunch large enough to weight the bird down liad formed. 

 In its efforts to fly it had broken its leg and was in a pitiable condition. The 

 numager amputated the leg at the fracture and set the bird at liberty. To the 

 surprise of all, it healed perfectly. The stump-leg furnished a mark for iden- 

 tification that served to distinguish the bird from its fellows, and it naturally 

 became an object of interest in the colony. It remained about the island all 

 winter, returning each night to its favorite roosting-place on the sand mound. 

 It became luiusually tame and fearless. "When spring came, however, it re- 

 sponded to tlie most powerful call that stirs the avian brain, the homing 

 instinct, and with its fellows left the wave-washed shores of Laysan to make 

 the long flight back from whence they came, seemingly for no more intelli- 

 gible reason than that they had made the .journey before. 



Natui-ally. the manager bade good-bye forever, as he thought, to his bird 

 neighbor the first night it failed to return to its roost. But being a seafaring 

 num. and accustomed to the excellent discipline of keeping a ship's log-book, 

 whether on land or sea, he accordingly made a note of the fact Avith day and 

 date and dismissed the incident from his mind. The summer passed, and one 

 early autunni day the whole colony was thrown into a state of excitement by 

 the announcement that the stump-leg plover had returned the night before 

 and had been found that morning occupying his sand-pile roost. The bird was 

 apparently as much at home as though a summer cruise to some distant land 

 was a regular occurrence and a matter of little consequence. Naturally, so 

 important an event as the return of the stump-leg plover to its winter home 

 was made a matter of record in the log for the day. The bird more than ever 

 became the object of interest and concern on the part of all hands, for had he 

 not accomplished a feat entitling him to the highest respect among seafaring 



(Vcscri/ifion of Plate Cnritinupd from Opposite Pafje.) 



Petrel [Oeoe] (Oceanodroma cryptohucura). 5. Hawaiian Tern [Xoio] {Micranous hatcaiieyi- 

 sis). 6. Bonin Petrel (ZEstrelata hypoleuca) . 7. Hawaiian Coot [Alae keokeo] (Fulica alai). 

 8. Hawaiian Hawk [lo] (Bufeo solitarius) ; light plumage. 9. Hawaiian Gallinule [Alae] 

 (GaJUnula saiidvicensis) . 



