. The birds of Washington : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . ie Albatrosscould, of course, let us alone if we were unworthv of confidence; but we have(lisco\-ered his breeding haunts upon certain isl;mds of the mid-Pacific. Hereis what hap])ened in one instance in the case of a related species, the LaysanAlbatross. lyioiucdca iniiinitabilis. It was on Marcus Island ( Lat. 24° 14 N.,Long. 1 =;4° R. ), for a time under control (d the Ja])anese, but later relin- THE BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS. 863 quished to the United States. Disappointed in
. The birds of Washington : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . ie Albatrosscould, of course, let us alone if we were unworthv of confidence; but we have(lisco\-ered his breeding haunts upon certain isl;mds of the mid-Pacific. Hereis what hap])ened in one instance in the case of a related species, the LaysanAlbatross. lyioiucdca iniiinitabilis. It was on Marcus Island ( Lat. 24° 14 N.,Long. 1 =;4° R. ), for a time under control (d the Ja])anese, but later relin- THE BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS. 863 quished to the United States. Disappointed in not being a1jle to find guanobv their crude methods, the Japanese developed a scheme t<i make a marketablecommodity of the Goonies, by killing them and boiling them ilown in a greatkettle to form a fertilizer, which they shipped to Japan, saving, ho\ve\-er, thelong wing quills to sell as eagle-feathers for the decoration of womens hats;and the breast feathers were plucked otT and sold by the pound. Under thistreatment the colony has greatly dwindled, and in 1902 the birds were onlykilled for their feathers.^. Pl-olo by IV. K. Fisher. .^ ON In ^lay, 1902, Mr. Walker K. Fisher with the U. S. Commissionsteamer Albatross, found the Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses breedingupon the island of Laysan in immense numbers, variously estimated at froinone to two million adults. His account of their nesting habits, together withtheir grotesque dances, or cake walks, reads like a passage from the ArabianNights. According to this authority the Albatrosses consume about tenmonths of the year in nesting. The single egg is laid near the mifldle of a. Tlie .Auk, \o\. Jan., 1905. p. 99; Review of liryans .\ Monograph of Marcus Island. b. W^ K. Fisher, Habits of tlie Laysan .Mbatross, .-\uk, Jan., 1904, p. i ff. 864 THE SHORT ) NovLMiibcr and is not halclicd till lel)ruar\. Tlie >un^ reciuirc to he fed forsix months hefiire venturin
Size: 2130px × 1173px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordawsonwilliamleon1873, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
