Report of the National Committee for 1904 69 



to bird life was something appalling. He estimates that they killed at least 

 300,000 birds, to judge from the number of cases of plumage and the 

 amount of meat they secured. All of their spoil had to be abandoned, but 

 it is properly preserved and will keep for a long time. There are 335 of 

 these cases, the plumage in them being of the highest quality. 



''The Japanese who were brought here by the Thetis are the remains of 

 a party of bird poachers whose presence on an American island was reported 

 by Captain Niblack, of the United States steamer Iroquois, some weeks ago, 

 and the Thetis was sent to stop their operations, but she arrived to find 

 them only too anxious to leave their hunting-ground and to abandon spoil 

 which is worth at least $20,000. 



"The Japanese were employed by a Tokio firm, and they fitted out in> 

 the schooner Yeiju Maru in Yohohama last December. Their destination 

 was Lisiansky Island, a wonderful center of ocean -bird life in mid -Pacific 

 not far from Midway Island. The island is the property of the United 

 States. 



"According to their story, they arrived at Lisiansky Island on January 

 8, and commenced at once to kill birds. They had a stafif not only of 

 hunters, but also of skilled taxidermists and skinners, for the birds' plumage 

 was intended for the millinery markets of Paris. The men collected skins 

 and wings by the thousand, the birds being very tame. 



"On January 18 a fierce gale struck the island and the Yeiju Maru, 

 dragging her anchor, struck a coral reef and was totally lost, ten of the men 

 who happened to be aboard being drowned. Seventy-seven men were left 

 helpless on the island." 



Our member, Mr. W. A. Bryan, of Honolulu, while in the States dur- 

 ing the past summer, was asked to prepare a statement and appeal to 

 present to the General Government, asking that some steps be taken at 

 once to prevent the destruction of the wonderful and highly interesting 

 bird colonies in the Pacific Ocean. The following letter was sent to the 

 Chief Executive: 



Bishop Museum, Honolulu, H. I., October 31, 1904. 



To the Honorable Theodore Roosevelt, 

 President of the United States, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Sir: — While in New York and Washington during the latter part of July, Mr. 

 Wm. Dutcher, President of the National Committee of the Audubon Societies for the 

 Protection of Birds, made an at»^empt to arrange a meeting with you at which I might 

 have the honor to bring before you in person the urgent need of our Government taking 

 active steps to prevent the extermination of the bird-colonies on the outlying islands of 

 the North Pacific Ocean, knowing it to be a matter in which you take an active 

 interest. 



It was impossible to arrange an audience at that time, and, in accordance with 



