May, 1920 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 97 
at present the island birds enjoy adequate protection so far as the law can 
afford it. They appear to stand in greater need of protection than the birds 
of mainland countries, possibly because, owing to their sedentary habits and 
the lack of competition during their many centuries of occupancy, they have 
become unable to cope with changed conditions, as the partial clearing of their 
native forests and the introduction of foreign species such as the mynah and 
others. Be the cause what it may, not a few of the island birds have become 
extinet within the memory of man, and others appear to be on their rapid way 
to the same sad fate. As bearing upon this point I may quote from a letter of 
January 1, 1919, from Brother Matthias, referring more particularly to my old 
collecting grounds in the districts of Hilo and Puna, Hawaii. In these, where, 
during the decade from 1894 to 1904, I found certain species numerous, he 
states that of late years the island birds have greatly diminished in numbers 
for no very obvious reasons, and he expresses the opinion that ‘‘ Hawaiian 
birds are doomed and fifty years hence most species will be extinct.’’ 
HAWAIIAN LAND SHELLS 
During my prolonged stay in the Islands I became much interested in the 
eurious and beautiful tree and land shells, chiefly of the genera Achatinella 
and Amastra, which are famous among conchologists the world over. These 
genera are represented by upwards of 200 so-called species or varieties, the 
exact number varying widely according to the individual opinions of the dif- 
ferent authorities. They were first brought to the attention of the outer world 
by Captain Dixon, who, on the occasion of his visit in 1786 found the natives 
wearing shell leis or necklaces, and who carried some of them back to England. 
The Achatinellas live chiefly among the leaves of trees, and the gathering of 
these gems of the shell world is to the island boy what egg collecting is to the 
boy of other regions. 
Immense numbers of them have been gathered and have found their way 
into the hands of scientists all over the world, and much has been published 
on them and in many languages. The wide differences in form and color they 
display, the tendency of the several forms to coalesce, and the facts of their 
local distribution all unite to make their study intensely interesting and highly 
important from the evolutionary standpoint. I made an excellent start to- 
wards a collection of these beautiful objects (a lifetime might easily be devoted 
to the subject) with the view ultimately of publishing on them, a plan which 
so far has not materialized, with the exception of a short paper contrib- 
uted to the Journal of Malacology (x1, 1904, pp. 56-64), entitled ‘‘On certain 
deposits of semi-fossil shells in Hamakua District, Hawaii, with descriptions 
of four new species.”’ 
RETURN TO THE MAINLAND 
In the spring of 1904, finding myself once more in good working condition, 
I returned to California, where I spent several months. Later I visited Massa- 
chusetts, and early in 1905 I found myself once more in Washington and eager 
for work. . 
ENTER THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
After passing a civil service examination, I was appointed Administrative 
Assistant in the Biological Survey June 1, 1905, becoming its Assistant Chief in 
December of the same year, thus again taking up biological work which IT had 
abandoned in favor of Anthropology so many years before. My pleasure at 
