ro2 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, Xo. litiO 



since been engaged uninterruptedly in field 

 work. 



An appeal by Professor Henry Fairfield Os- 

 born, president of The American Museum of 

 Natural History, to Amibassador Jusserand for 

 tlie good of&ces of the French Gnovernment in 

 the Society Islands, met with a generous re- 

 ponse, and since the initiation of the work, the 

 Whitnej' Expedition has received every courtesy 

 both from the government and from individuals 

 at the French Islands. 



When Messrs. Beck and Qua vie arrived in 

 Tahiti, they began at once an ornithological re- 

 connaissance of this classic isle. As opportuni- 

 ty offered, trips were made to neighboring 

 islands either upon trading vessels or by the 

 use of sloops carrying copra or other cargoes. 

 Early in 1921 an inviitaition from Pere Rougier, 

 the proprietor of Christmas Island, north of 

 the Equator, was accepted, and the ornitholo- 

 gists made a notable journey to this interesting 

 sta:tion, stopping en route for collecting at 

 three different islands of the Marquesas group. 

 Subsequently voyages were made to the soiith- 

 ward, when the northern islands of the Austral 

 group were visited, as well as Rapa, the south- 

 ernmost of the eastern Polynesian islands. In 

 September, 1921, a second trip was made to the 

 Marquesas, followed by a preliminary visit to 

 the Tuamotu Archipelago, upon eleven islets 

 of which collecting was undertaken. 



During the first j'eai-'s work, Mr. Beck was 

 continually on the lookout for a siiitalble vessel 

 which he might purchase, and in this way be- 

 come independent of the uncertain movements 

 of trading craft. In Decembe)-, 1921, after ad- 

 verse consideration of several vessels, the Com- 

 mittee purchased the 75-ton schooner "France," 

 which is equipped with a sixty horse power en- 

 gine and which was built ait Tahiti three years 

 ago. Through the unfailing courtesy of the 

 French Colonial Govermnent, the usual require- 

 ment of partial French ownership was waived, 

 and the schooner was admitted to yacht regis- 

 try, with permission to carry on work at any 

 of the French islands. Similar pennission for 

 the British islands was granted hy His Ma- 

 jesty's Colonial officers, and after the "France" 

 had been thoroughly refitted, she sailed with 



Messrs. Beck and Quayle, in January, 1922, on 

 a trip to the Austral Islands, Rapa, Gambler 

 Islands, Pitcairn, Hendei-son, Oeno, Elizabeth 

 and Dueie Islands. 



While the expedition is primarily ornitholog- 

 ical, no opportunity has been lost to obtain de- 

 siralble material and data in other branches of 

 science, particularly at the many Polynesian 

 islands where the native peoples and fauna are 

 rapidly dying out or are altering materially 

 with changing conditions. With this object in 

 mind, the Museum has cooperated in all possi- 

 ble ways with other institutions tliat are carry- 

 ing on research in the Pacific. The Bernice 

 Pauahi Bishop Museum of Honolulu, for ex- 

 ample, is now a center of Pacific investigations, 

 coordinated under the administration of Pro- 

 fessor Herbert E. Gregory, of Yale, who is 

 serving as Director of the Bishop Museum. 

 The Committee of the Whitney Expedition has 

 been from the beginning in close touch with 

 Professor Gregory and has sought his advice 

 on many details. The members of the Expedi- 

 tion have been instructed to undertake special 

 lines of collecting which do not interfere with 

 their main objects, to offer transportation when- 

 ever possible to the field workers of the Bishop 

 Museum, and of other scientific organizations, 

 and in general to further the cause of Pacific 

 investigation by selecting fields of endeavor 

 which lead toward cooperation rather than com- 

 petition. It has been decided, for instance, to 

 leave the ornithological investigation of the 

 Hawaiian Islands and of certain neighboring 

 groups, such as Midway, Johnston, Pahnyra 

 and Washington Islands, to the Bishop Muse- 

 um, and to confine the efforts of the Whitney 

 Expedition, for the present at least, to the 

 southerly and easterly islands of Polynesia, 

 from Samoa and the Marquesas southward and 

 eastward to the Austral gi'oup and Easter 

 Island. In order that the American Musemn of 

 Natural History may obtain a full representa- 

 tion of the avian fauna of the Pacific Basin, 

 however, a comprehensive exchange of mate- 

 rial has been arranged, andi the museum has 

 already received from Honolulu an important 

 collection of Hawaiian 'birds, which gives it a 

 very nearly complete series of the scarce or ex- 



