27 
if-11-23 
cause of the extinction of the land birds. The prying eyes of these 
thieves cover every spot of the island and any sort of suggestion of a 
nest is an excuse for an immediate side trip of investigation. Once a 
nest vas located the smaller land birds would be defenseless in the face 
of these powerful marauders. As I see it the introduction of the rabbits 
was of course the primary basic cause of all of the island birds' troubles, 
but the consequent extirpation worked to my mind rather to prevent the small 
birds from perpetuating their sps. through lack of cover from bird bandits 
the adult individuals 
than to'actually exterminate/themselves. Reno's report of finding 3 speci- 
/ 
mens of Himatione alive and thriving today in the tobacco patch So.W. of 
the lagoon makes me all the more certain that the species could all have 
adapted themselves to the changed conditions and gained a livelihood had 
uhey onry been granted nesting cover to guarantee new recruits to take the 
place of the older birds as they died off. This tiny Honey Eater was 
probably the most specialized in its feeding habits of all the endemic 
land birds on the island. God knows when the last flower bloomed on this 
barren waste. Yet here are at least 3 individuals of this specialized form 
persisting as a sort of heritage from the last nest of the sp'. that was 
built in sufficient cover to survive. But, as it seems to me, old age and 
death now inevitably stalk this childless remnant of a vanishing species. 
Wetmore took a Sanderling today - an island record, I believe. 
As the sun finally crashed through we shouldered the outfit and started 
back toward the tern colony-at the south end of the island. 
.iade some movie of a flock of Noddy on the shore & a bit more turtle 
SUUil. 
As we s'-xme. :Sme for lunch after working the terns, a bird attractei 
my attention, floundering on the beach in the edge, of the waves. 
When I got 
