22 EXPEDITION TO LAYSAN ISLAND IN 1911. 



The specimens we prepared for our collection were exceedingly fat. 

 We experienced some difficulty in securing good ones, as the birds were 

 too wild to catch in a hand net and were easily ruined with a shotgun. 

 The turnstones number about 2,500. 



DREPANIDID^. 



Himatione fraithii Rothschild. Laysan Honey Eater. 



The honey eater is not common on Laysan. There were four birds 

 of this species that roosted on an old rope which hung across the corner 

 in one of the sheds. Here each night we would see them huddled 

 closely together. An occasional bird would flit into our workroom in 

 quest of millers. The} 7 were to be seen about the island in the tall 

 tussocks of grass, where we found a few nests, all of which contained 

 young birds or well-incubated eggs. Among the old specimens left 

 by the feather hunters we found several skins of the honey eater. 

 There are possibly 300 living birds of this species. 



Telespiza cantans Wilson. Laysan Finch. 



One of the last birds to disappear from the island will be the Lay- 

 san finch. With its omnivorous habits and its saucy, fearless manner 

 it easily adapts itself to conditions as it finds them. It is a fine song- 

 ster and makes a good cage bird. Laysan Island is an ideal place for 

 this bird, but should anyone be rash enough to introduce it to a 

 civilized community it would be a pest that would rival the English 

 sparrow. 



They were everywhere abundant about the island, particularly 

 near the tern rookeries. When we passed through the rookeries they 

 would follow, to steal the eggs left exposed by the terns we had 

 frightened away. They also eat other birds' eggs, not excepting their 

 own species. 



Our cook experienced much difficulty in keeping them from the 

 kitchen. Each day brought more birds. At last he was obliged to 

 put up a net at the door to keep thorn out. They also visited our 

 storeroom, where they picked holes in our rice bag, making way with 

 quite a quantity. At meal time they were about our feet picking at 

 the crumbs on the floor. It was not an uncommon thing to see them 

 on the table. They were nesting during the month of May, and we 

 found many nests with fresh eggs. We estimated the total number 

 of finches to be about 2,700. 



SYLVIID^. 



Acrocephalus familiaris (Rothschild). Miller Bird. 



With the exception of the Laysan teal, the miller bird is the least 

 abundant of the indigenous birds. We saw a few of them around the 

 old buildings and others about the island, but principally along the 



