Annotated List of Birds Observed on Christmas Island, 
October to December 1953 
\ 
Joseph E. King 1 
In October 1953, the Pacific Oceanic Fishery 
Investigations of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service landed a small field party (the author 
and Mr. Richard Shomura) on Christmas Is- 
land for the purpose of installing weather 
instruments and sea thermographs, and to 
conduct a tuna bait-fish survey of the lagoon. 
We were on the island from October 23 to 
December 9, 1953, and although our time 
was generally occupied with the duties men- 
tioned above, we had many opportunities to 
observe the interesting bird life of the island. 
As Christmas and other islands of the Line 
Island group (Fanning, Washington, and 
Palmyra) are rarely visited by ornithologists, 
we thought it worthwhile to report our ob- 
servations. 
The author is indebted to Dr. Frank Rich- 
ardson for his helpful review of the manu- 
script. 
Christmas Island (Fig. 1), lies in the equa- 
torial Pacific about 1,200 miles south of Ha- 
waii at 2° N. latitude, 157° W. longitude. It 
is about 35 miles in length, in a northwest- 
southeast direction, and about 17 miles in 
width. The island is a large coral atoll with 
a perimeter of about 105 miles. Enclosed 
within the outer coast is an area estimated at 
382 square miles, of which approximately 250 
are land and 107 are lagoon; about 25 square 
miles are occupied by numerous salt lakes 
(Wentworth, 1931). The island is generally 
1 Fishery Research Biologist, U. S. Fish and Wild- 
life Service, Honolulu. 
low, averaging about 10 feet or less in eleva- 
tion, except along the southern shore of the 
Bay of Wrecks where there are scattered sand 
dunes which may reach 40 feet in height. 
The rainfall is quite variable but averages 
25 to 35 inches a year (Bryan, 1942). Frag- 
mentary records show an annual range from 
10 inches to as much as 100 inches. The air 
temperature varies from a minimum of 68° 
or 70° F. to a maximum of 106° F. (Went- 
worth, 1931). 
Christophersen (1927) records 24 species 
of vascular plants as growing naturally on 
Christmas Island. These include Tournefortia 
argentea trees, clumps of Scaevola frutescens and 
other low shrubs, grasses, and herbs.' Al- 
though all the coconut palms now seen on the 
island have been planted, there were a few 
palm trees present at the time of Captain 
Cook’s visit in 1777. There are now extensive 
coconut groves in the northwestern, northern, 
southwestern, and southern parts of the 
island. 
The vertebrate fauna of the island consists 
mainly of the fishes that abound in the lagoon 
and coastal waters and the abundant bird life 
that forms the subject of this report. In addi- 
tion there are lizards, rats, and cats; many of 
the latter roam in a wild state, and while they 
may help keep down the rat population, they 
also without doubt prey on the ground- 
nesting birds. 
Great Britain claims sovereignty over the 
island and has brought in natives from the 
Gilbert and Ellice Colony to provide a labor 
42 
