494 The National Geographic Magazine 



" The land system of 1,497 miles was 

 scarcely completed in June, 1903, when 

 extensive forest fires in the valley of the 

 Tanana, ranging for a distance of 250 

 miles along the line, destroyed vari- 

 ous portions, aggregating 100 miles in 

 length. By arduous effort this line was 

 rebuilt and the system thrown open as 

 a whole to the general public for com- 

 mercial business before winter com- 

 menced. It has since been operated 

 with unusual success, although inter- 

 ruptions here or there have been fre- 

 quent, 206 breaks in all, due mostly to 

 blizzards, forest fires, sleet storms, and 

 high winds." 



THE PHILIPPINE LINES 

 About 3,000 miles of the Philippine 

 system has been transferred by the Sig- 

 nal Corps to the civil government, leav- 

 ing 7,000 miles of cable and telegraph 

 still in the hands of the Signal Corps. 

 If the Signal Corps had charged for 

 every telegram and telephone on the 

 scale of the Eastern Extension Tele- 

 graph Company, the only telegraph com- 

 pany in the islands, it would have re- 

 ceived nearly $8,000,000 in tolls. The 

 total cost to the United States for the 

 construction and operation of the 10,000 

 miles of lines in the Philippines has been 

 less than one-third of this amount. 



A BIRD CITY 



AT the extreme end of the Ha- 

 waiian group there is a little 

 island, about 3 miles long and 

 i x / 2 miles wide, where one of the most 

 remarkable sights in the world is to be 

 seen. Hundreds of thousands of birds 

 make ittheir breeding place. The birds 

 have divided the island into lots and 

 squares, as the surveyor divides the city 

 into lots, and each lot is reserved for a 

 particular species of bird. Mr Walter 

 K. Fisher, of the Bureau of Fisheries, 

 who in 1902 spent a week on this island 

 (Laysan Island), has recently published 

 the official story of his visit there.* 

 Perhaps the most interesting bird is the 

 beautiful white-breasted albatross. The 

 bird is friendly. ' ' It might perhaps be 

 difficult to convey," says Mr Fisher, 

 "the pleasure I experienced when, 

 standing in a group of albatrosses, one 

 came up and peered into my face, and, 

 finding my intentions good, proceeded 

 to examine inquisitively the top of my 

 tripod. Many of the young albatrosses 



* "Birds of Laysan Island, H. I.," by W. K. 

 Fisher, Bureau of Fisheries, 1904. 



would allow themselves to be stroked 

 after a ludicrous show of displeasure," 

 and would soon appear as if they had 

 known us always." 



The albatross is fond of dancing. 

 " Two albatrosses approach each other, 

 bowing profoundly and stepping rather 

 heavily. They circle around each other, 

 nodding solemnly all the time (see pict- 

 ure r). Next they fence a little, cross- 

 ing bills and whetting them together, 

 pecking meanwhile, and dropping stiff 

 little bows. Suddenly one lifts its closed 

 wing and nibbles at the feathers under- 

 neath, or, if in a hurry, merely turns its 

 head and tucks its bill under its wing 

 (see picture 2 ) . The other bird during 

 this short performance assumes a statu- 

 esque pose and either looks mechanically 

 from side to side or snaps its bill loudly 

 a few times. Then the first bird bows 

 once, and, pointing its head and beak 

 straight upward, rises on its toes, puffs 

 out its breast, and utters a prolonged 

 nasal groan, the other bird snapping its 

 bill loudly and rapidly at the same time 

 (see picture 4). 



