Expedition members on the first leg of the expedition (4) are, from left to right: King, A. The TANAGER expedition was in part a fact-finding mission regarding the Survey's mandate as bird conservation custodian. Robert Pyle kindly provided the TANAGER Expedition with a copy of the holdings of the archival department of the Bishop's Museum.
We expect that the costs of the entire expedition, covering dr..'s salary and expenses. As for Laysan Teal, the number you need to take will depend on the number on the island. Would that gentleman also give a general account of the expedition's doings'.
Wetmore's copy of a flowchart showing plans for publication of the results of the TANAGER expedition. Commander Samuel Ilder King was the admiral's representative on board the TANAGER during the expedition.
Shortly after six we arrived at the anchorage on the west side of the island. This morning I worked north along the beach to the northern tip of the island and then returned along the inner edge. The Black-footed Albatross occupies the outer slopes of the island on the northern side almost to the exclusion of the Laysan species.
As we got into the boat, in several cases I saw wide paths where the animals had been taken out of the water. The wind blew during the night, causing the sides of the tent to flap steadily. At seven o'clock the surf boat came off the ship and landed through the gap in the reef on the eastern neck of the southern sands.
The wind was strong from the north-east and at dusk we turned to anchor at the south-west rear of the atoll. About 125 seals have been seen on the three islands explored here and undoubtedly more inhabit the islands in the northern part of the reef.
At dawn we were almost out of sight of Icaula, but we soon ran back to the island and circled it. At seven o'clock the surf boat was placed in the lee of the island and we were towed to the windward side. Since Kaula is marked on the map as 300 meters high, I was surprised to discover that it was a round mass rising just under 150 meters above the sea, a veritable turtle shell of volcanic rock with its round sunburst and high sides.
The island was sheer and precipitous for three-quarters of its circumference, the cliffs rising nearly 200 to 300 feet high, with nothing more than shelves at their base, barely above water level. To the east and southeast there was a small indentation forming a bay with steep walls, not as high as elsewhere. On the north side there is a huge cave twenty meters wide and almost sixty meters deep, the famous cave of Kui Moana, the largest rake god of the islands.
We t ~ ~ r n e d the surf boat and worked back over half' thc length of the cave to notice that it ended in a narrow lrench cut in the rock. Our voice5 echoed from the damp wall5 and the water showed dim and certain depths below, in which shifting light boulders towered like mysterious beasts of the deep. Vie went significantly around the island in the area, but was forced to think LIP to land due to the surf.
No native birds, passerine or otherwise, were encountered there.] At 8:30 we boarded the TANAGER and immediately stopped for Honolulu where we arrived at 11:15. At eight o'clock this morning 1 went down to the TANAGER after leaving the pictures to be developed, etc., and received items for delivery, etc. Tarrant and other officers of the mining squadron and discussed plans for the trip to Johnston Island.
It was agreed to send the whole square meter area, with the exception of the TANAGER, which will be set up to clean the boilers, to Johnston Island. The fleet will consist of the minesweeper WHIPPOORWILL and two destroyers, the LUDLOW and BURNS. Then returned to the TANAGER and oversaw the transfer of necessary materials, supplies, camp equipment, etc.
Oosnag, Schlemmer and I walked to the eastern end of the island on Thursday 11th and collected a series of Blue-faced and Red-footed boobies. It was very hot today with a glint of the sun trying to look at the eyes. About half an hour later I walked to the east side of the ~land and caught a Red-legged Boomer for the alcohol tank.
One load was thrown into the surf boat and we were able to get the rest of the stuff onto the motorboat and the speedboat. The sun came out and shone brightly, so I managed to take some pictures of the island. There was a lot of dead stuff piled up on all sides, some of the logs scraped up.
After fifteen minutes, when I got well near the center of the island, my eye caught it. In a small opening at the eastern end of the island is a curious shrine, which I suspect is of Japanese origin. 1 cut to the eastern end of the lagoon and returned to the channel along its border.
A father swept this end of the island many years ago, as shown by black roots. Inland coral rock or loose sandy soil alternate to form the surface of the island. Near the center of this end of the island is an extensive yard of Cordia.
These islands are completely clean of all debris created by the activities of hermit crabs. About fifteen tracks were seen at various edges in the bush or along the edge of Se.sr/vi~rni. On one occasion two or three Pmcelstcma suxatilis remained for several days on the rocks at the southern end of the island.
THE JOURNAL OF DONALD R. DICKEY
- aysan Duck Anus luysurzensis (Laysan Teal)
For some time the birds caressed each other by working their beaks into the feathers of the other's head, alternately. The majority of the cubs sit as they do when young, but a few went into an upright position. They have a comical way of rocking in the nest on the back of the tarsus with the big feet waving up and down in the air.
The birds are now laying, and fresh eggs are scattered all over the island's slopes. One of the many birds on the island is now well on its way to the breeding season. Chasen, concerning the disappearance of the neck sac in male frigatebirds during the non-breeding season (Wetmore.
They do not colonize in the strict sense of the word, as they are spread over considerable areas. One of the parents is almost always on duty with the young at the nest. For nesting sites, the birds gathered on the upper third of the island, where they
The reef on the west side of the island approaches within 100 to 300 meters of the beach. A small number of birds now have young from two weeks old to birds on the wing. There are five hundred Sully here, mostly from offshore on the windward side of the big island.
At the western end of the northern half of Wake a Sew par, chicks from half'ro have almost grown in ground nests. In the evening, many of the birds enter the island from a fishing ground to the southwest and pass low over our camp. On the windward side of the atoll, the birds rest on logs or coral, often in small groups.
In most cases, these young birds rest on the nests of adults without protest. A beautiful bird that runs between greenhouses, overgrown hills in the center of the island, in the company of stones.
