BIRD RESERVATIONS 



the "Hawaiian Island Reservation" was brought 

 into existence. This is the largest of all our Gov- 

 ernment bird reserves. It extends through more 

 than five degrees of longitude. 



At intervals in the past these islands had been 

 visited by vessels engaged in the feather trade, and 

 although no funds were available for establishing 

 a warden patrol among them, it was fondly hoped 

 that the notice to the world that these birds were now 

 wards of the United States would be sufficient to in- 

 sure their safety. 



A rude shock was felt, therefore, when late that 

 year a rumour reached Washington that a Japanese 

 poaching vessel had been sighted heading for these 

 waters. The revenue cutter Thetis, then lying at 

 Honolulu, was at once ordered on a cruise to the 

 bird islands. Early in 1910 the vessel returned, 

 bringing with her twenty-three Japanese feather 

 hunters who had been captured at their work of 

 destruction. In the hold of the vessel were stored 

 two hundred and fifty-nine thousand pairs of wings, 

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