The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-05-14
BIRDS ARE SLAIN
|. BY THOUSANDS ON
IStANDoF LAySAN
Commander Of Cutter Thetis
F. Makes Startling Report To
Coast Guard Bureau
(Ftom Thursday AdvertiscD

1 (Ftom Thursday's Adversely
That the lird life Of I,aysan Island,
ehid sanctuary Of the IIawaiian Is
lands bird reservation, is being raided,
presumably by japanese poachors, Is
evidenced by the report Of the recent
cruise Of the United States coastguard
cutter Thetis to the outlying Islands
Of tho group.
comm alIler Bl wn. in his report to
Washington. states that abundant evi
dcnHe was found o. the illegal slaugh
tering of the feathered deni7ens of
haNsan Island, on the occasion Of the
visit of the Thetis.
Part Of Hawaii Reservation
s, Laysan Island is part of the Hawai-.
ian Islands bird reservation, the crca-
ton OF which was one of the last of.
ficial acts of President Roosevelt.
! About three YEARS ago the Thetis,
| visiting Gaysan Island, caught a mum
her Of Japanese p9aehers red handed,
and took them back to Honolulu, TO-
gether with feathers seized on the Is
land. to the value Of over s100.O 600. The
offenders, after being detained here TO-.
'eyeral months awaiting trial, were
eventually given nominal sentences.
! Since that memorable visit of the
Thetis, the Islands of the reservation
have teen visited several times by the
coastguard cutter, but until the last
trip no evidence of depredations haze
been fepnd. s, - ~.
The hid reservation extends from
! t]ecan Island to Nifroa, hut DIS not
include Midway Island, watch is
under tho protection Of the cable com
many having q station there. i,
Co ierabie ccadiicng Found
9he condition of affairs on Lays
'slsnd was found TO be most depIor-
able, Raiders had been ashore aud
Slaughtered the birds in great numbers,
their earcases being found strewn all
over the surface Of the Island.
! From the state of incubation Of eggs
left in the, nest II is thought by CoIn
mander Brown that the Visitation Of
the poachers must have occurred about
the niddle Of January
Giaphie. details Of the conditions
found on Laysan Island by the Thetis
are given in the report. of Lieutenant
| W. H Munter 20 Commander Brown,
and which is in part as follows;
II was Indeed sad sight that was
we nted TO view on reaching the
shore above the smf. line, Dead birds
we've seen in piles of ten, aud Fifteen,
and somstipes as many as foSy and
fifty in a pile. 49,, .l.... 7.
! mons pupiLef of deal biTds TO SOME
epideIqic, Of, disease, but soon il dawned
/ .'"r- thRt riOaehers had again raid
ed the Island for feathers, Each deal
Llrq was, Hound TO have the hFeasl
feathers musings, All the other feath,
ers remained Only the breast and
belly feathers had been taken. sd
The white, or Laysan albatross,
was the ,chi,f sufferer, Next came the
black footed ,albatross, with the fri.
cate bird and blue faced BOBBY follow
lug, in order of number found killed
Birds Killed by Thousand, 'au.,.
between one hundred aud fifty and
two hundrel dead" birds were found
lying in heaps in all parts of the isl
and. ATIot them were found on their
backs with only the breast feathers
missing, In the majority Of cases the
feathers had been pulled out, but in
some instances knives had been used
and the breasts had heen ,cnt away
from tho bodies Of the birds, =. ~. ss,i.. ~.
1t was a most distressing. sight to
soc 50 many fine birds rotting away.
As consequence there were very few
Young albatrosses and booI les. The al,
r'atroSses, black and white, were, very
Shy, and d.. not permit US to, get very
lose to them. .-.. ,y..u.. ..,
1.-THE western half of the, island has
only very few young albstTosses, but
there were hundreds of eggs with Young
chicks in them that never Matched.
ENihcutI", from this, the poaeheLs made
their raid ABOUT the time the Young
we've we'll developed in embfyo. ~, :,
Slaughter Was Systematic i .l..-
Along the southern and southeast
crn parts OF the island quite number
of the young of the black, footed alba
tr0sS were found. However, here, as
elsewhere, hundreds Of grown birds had
cen slain for their feathers, IN, fact
the work was thoroughly and system-
atcaIly done, as no portion Of the isl
apd was spared. I l.. -5.s... ~,
The dead birds, what was left of
them, were lying III heaps everywhere
Evidently they were killed and brought
to persons who removed the feathers,
bus accounting for them being in piles,
Arriving at the buildings on 4 the
western Fart of the. island, we found
IL great pile Of dead birds, bare breasts
uPpcrmost, in one of the sheds I'm.
lnistaknhIc signs were found, showing
that the buildings and island had re-
Gently been inhabited by man. An an
chor or mooring was found high up OH
the beach near the wharf. Decaying
turtle meat was discovered in one OF
the rantrirs. Other evidence pointed
'lm'lsPuta' " to the fact that men had
hern ca the island within a period Of
two OF two aud half months. Around
the buildings skinned | irds were found
also the wings Of terms and albatrosses
Three Mysterious Graves
The rIlatrosses were very shy and