
It was concluded that many young albatrosses can survive (at 
least until near fledging time) after the loss of one parent. 
Effects of the loss of both parents (Plot No. 8).--At seven 
nests both parents were killed a few days after the chick hatched. 
Six of the chicks soon died of starvation. One chick has survived, 
evidently being fed by one or more unemployed birds, perhaps individuals 
which had lost their own chick, 
Itws concluded that loss of both parents will normally, but 
not always, result in the death of their chick. 
Large Scale Elimination Rreriment 
During World War II at the Marine fighter base then located 
on Eastern Island, Midway, an attempt was made to reduce the number of 
albatrosses. An officer who was on the island at the time of the kill- 
ing program has kindly furnished the following recollections. 
The program was conducted during late 1941, Its duration was 
about one week. It was conducted by 150-200 men who spent 6 or 7 hours 
a day killing birds. Approximately 80,000 albatrosses were estimated 
to have been killed. The albatross population was temporarily reduced 
and for a brief time the hazard to aircraft was reduced. The following 
season there appeared to be as many albatrosses as before. Jt is in- 
teresting to note that today Eastern Island has a very high population 
of albatrosses, about 110,000 individuals of both species combined and 
averaging 157 nests per acre. 
In order to evaluate statistically the effects of large scale 
killing under controlled conditions, a population reduction program was 
begun on April 22, 1957, in kill area No. 1 of Sand Island (Figure 21). 
This 49-acre area is triangular in shape and is bounded on all sides by 
paved runways. It consists of Scagvola thickets, open areas, abandoned 
building, revetments, and is the location of the present air control 
tower. About one-third of the area, along the south side, had recently 
been cleared by bulldozers as part of the rebuilding of runway 6-24, 
Procedure.--The killing was done by specially detailed men armed 
with short lengths of pipe or wooden clubs. The birds were killed by a 
blow on the back of the skull where the neck attaches. After being 
killed, the birds were dragged to the runways or revetments which were 
accessible to trucks. Here they were counted and loaded into the trucks. 
The first night's kill was dumped at seas; the birds from subsequent 
kills were buried. The first two kills were conducted at night. Sub- 
sequently they were carried out during daylight hours. 
The progress of the kill is presented in Table 7. 
The number of truck hours consumed was 553 of marehours 920, 
during 12 killing periods. (These figures include the man-hours 
37 
