3 
the going price at the time was $52 
to $40 a ton. The guano was brought 
from the main deposits by railway 
trams and taken to the ships from 
a pier built out from the western 
side of the island. Several small 
buildings were erected to house the 
guano workers. 
Today little evidence remains 
on Enderbury’s busier days. Build- 
ings which once housed man have be- 
come shacks in which thousands of 
hermit crabs seek shade during the 
day. Once up-turned guano soil is 
now a softly undulating expanse of 
sand, coral rubble, and scrubby 
plants, to which the birds have 
again returned. But it would take 
them thousands of years of undis- 
turbed existence there to rebuild 
such a guano deposit. 
Although several scientific 
expeditions (including the Wilkes, 
1840, the Whitney, 1924, and the 
Taney, 1958) have visited Enderbury 
and some banding was even done in 
1938, very little has been known 
about the birds which occur there . 
The major emphasis of the Pacific 
Ocean Biological Survey Program’s 
work on Enderbury has been on birds . 
Efforts have been concentrated upon 
discovering how many of which spe- 
cies occur there, their breeding 
status, and how widely they range 
from Enderbury itself. 
Our extensive banding program 
has proved to be of immense value 
since reports are now being re- 
ceived from all over the Pacific of 
birds which were originally banded 
on Enderbury and other such islands. 
As a result of the analysis of 
these data, we are now able to pre- 
dict with some degree of accuracy, 
the probable distribution and dis- 
persal of many species for which 
guess-work has had to suffice pre- 
viously. 
Over 600 birds banded on En- 
derbury have been recaptured on 
other islands and almost 400 birds 
banded on other islands have been 
recaptured on Enderbury. From these 
data we have learned, for example, 
the dispersal pattern of the Lesser 
Frigatebird. It was previously 
thought that the Lesser Frigate- 
bird which nests in the Phoenix 
Islands would never go more than 
200 miles away, but as a result of 
this program we now know that it 
flies regularly to the Western 
Pacific, in many cases traveling 
over 5,000 miles. 
Six of the species of birds 
now known to occur on Enderbury 
were first recorded by P.O.B.S.P. 
personnel. In addition to new re- 
cords, this program is attempting 
(Continued on page 4) 
