248 TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN 



species of albatross that were so abundant everywhere in 1903 have been 

 killed. The colonies that remain are in a sadly decimated condition. . . . 

 Over a large part of the island, in some sections a hundred acres in a place, 

 that ten years ago were thickly inhabited by albatrosses not a single 

 bird remains, while heaps of the slain lie as mute testimony of the awful 

 slaughter of these beautiful, harmless and without doubt beneficial in- 

 habitants of the high seas. 



In February, 1909, President Roosevelt issued an execu- 

 tive order creating the Hawaiian Islands Reservation for 

 Birds. In this are included Laysan and twelve other islands 

 and reefs, some of which are inhabited by birds that are well 

 worth preserving. By this act we may feel that for the future 

 the birds of Laysan and neighboring islets are secure from 

 further attacks by the bloody-handed agents of the vain 

 women of Europe, who still insist upon wearing the wings and 

 feathers of wild birds, and even yet have a legal right to do so. 



