The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-26

Great FlOcks of Sea Pigeons and Sen
 Eagles---orIgln of Pirate Treasure
 Story.
 Mystery always attaches to the is- lands of the sea. And there, also, Is animal life, strange and queer, No where in the wide Pacific Is this fact better exempllfed than in that atoll known as Clipperton Island, one of Mexico's possessions, some 1,SOO miles south of San Francisco.
 CIipperton has the queerest bird and animal life of all the islands lying north of the Galapagos, says the San Franscisco Chronicle. It has more. In common with all the islands of the South seas, 1t has it's legendary hidden treasure Here have men wasted for tune and broken hearts over fruitless search for pirate gold, while others have achieved wealth through honest 4 toll in extracting the riches deposited by mother nature.
 When approaching this low lying is- land, with it's wonderful uplifted, castlelike rock on the north side, one N sees first what appears to be an im- 4 mense swarm of bees lowering in the air, and his wonder increases at this strange phenomenon on nearer ap- s, proach when he finds that this seeming ' swarm of bees is in realty a great cloud \ of birds, which nest by millions on this lone island, and whose presence has been undisturbed by man for so many generations that little fear of that other biped which has no wings ever enters their minds.
 But of all the birds of Clipperton Island. of which there are three dis tinct families, none Is so strange as the gannet, the one which sailors call the booby. When strolling about the island one thinks that the men of the q sea had some reason in this designa- tion, for he finds the birds so tame that he may walk among them when they nest, and even lift them from their eggs, with no further than a hoarse croak. But a close observer may note other peculiarities about the gannet which certainly makes the name booby a misnomer. Its other charater- istics are such as to indicate that 1t is a deep thinker and wise bird
 The gannet Is satisfied with a slight depression in the coral reef for nest, and here, in order to bring forth its young and raise 1t in peace, 1t seems ito have entered into pact with the peculiar land crabs which infest the island whereby one of the two eggs laid annually Is given as tribute to the crabs for immunity to the other, which is then unmolested during the process of matching. Each booby hen lays two eggs every year, and as soon as this process begins watchful crab appears and patiently awaits the de- posting of the eggs. With the appear ance of the first egg there ensues an aggressive movement on the part of the crab which seems to be the result of generations of instinct. The crab edges closer and closer to the mother bird, and when the powerful beak threatens, it drops to the ground with close drawn legs and claws and waits until the birds attention is withdrawn This patient and persistent seige con- 4inues day after day and night after might, until the gannet is worn to ir- ritation and it's rolls one of the eggs from its nest as a tribute to the crabs persistence.
 This ends the struggle and the booby is left in peace to proceed with the matching of it's young. When the young bird is born the male and female boobies take turns in watching the nest and fishing for food for them selves and the young one. As the young bird grows stronger it begins to wan der about and is then considered able Ito protect itself from attacks of crabs. Its appetite grows with it's body and 1t now keeps the old birds busy sup plying it with food.
 Now is developed a new phrase of bird life. The young booby, which continues under it's parents care until 1t is one year old, has perfect defin- ed territory where 1t reigns supreme. For about ten feet square around the place where it was born is sacred ground so far as the young gannet is concerned, and he brooks no interloper in that dooryard. Should some other young booby presume to overstep the boundary line there ensues battle royal in which the interloper invari- ably is worsted and scuttles back over the imaginary line to its own yard These battles are accompanied by shrieks and hoarse croaks, to which no attention is paid by other birds in the vicinity.
 Other birds are there, also in coun- tless numbers, and on the island all live in harmony, with never a row over a division of spells. The beautiful sea pigeon, as the sailors call the term, nests in the clefts and caverns of the battlemented rocks and on the isles in lagoon around which the atoll is formed. These are not so tame as the boobies, but they will permit one to come quite close while nesting and fly only when there is too evident intent pn the part of the interloper to ex- Rmine closely their habits. In size, shape and general appearance the term Is similar to the wild pigeon of the forests of California but it has webbed feet It nests in the rocks, with no eff fort to build home, being content, like its neighbors, the booby and sea eagle, to hatch its young on the bare surface The term egg, which Is about the size of that of pigeon, is considered delicacy by the seafar- Ing men. and the hunting of these eggs