THE COMPLETED ATOLL. 287 



in the fall and winter, but I never found any evidence of their 

 breeding there. They do not leave the island in quest of prey, 

 but may be seen at low-tide picking up their food on the reef 

 which is then almost dry. 



" Some of the social habits of these birds are worthy of re- 

 mark. The gannets and boobies usually crowd together in 

 a very exclusive manner. The frigate birds likewise keep 

 themselves distinct from other kinds. The tern appropriate to 

 themselves a certain portion of the island ; each family col- 

 lects in its accustomed roosting-place, but all in peace and har- 

 mony. The feud between the fishing birds and their oppres- 

 sors, the frigate birds, is only active in the air ; if the gannet 

 or booby can but reach the land and plant its feet on the 

 ground, the pursuer gives up the chase immediately." 



The extensive reefs about coral islands, as already stated, 

 abound in fish, which are easily captured, and the natives, 

 with wooden hooks, often bring in larger kinds from the deep 

 waters. From such resources a population of 7,000 persons 

 is supported on the single island of Taputeuea, whose whole 

 habitable area does not exceed six square miles. 



There are also shell-fish of edible kinds, and others that 

 are the source of considerable activity in pearl-fishing. 



An occasional log drifts to the shores, and at some of the 

 more isolated atolls, where the natives are ignorant of any 

 land but the spot they inhabit, they are deemed direct gifts 

 from a propitiated deity. These drift-logs were noticed by 

 Kotzebue, at the Marshall Islands, and he remarked also that 

 they often brought stones in their roots. Similar facts have 

 been observed at the Gilbert Group, and also at Enderby's 

 Island, and many other coral islands in the Pacific. The 

 stones at the Gilbert Islands, as far as could be learned, are 



