ALBATROSS FEATHERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 August 1923, Page 7

ALBATROSS FEATHERS

CRUELTY AND DESTRUCTION.

The albatross, which follows the ships and is well known to every seaman, is a peaceable bird in spite of his appetite. It will be remembered that he was once supposed to bring good luck to the vessel. It is the more regrettable that he has of late been hunted till there seems to be a danger of t|ie. whole species being destroyed, declares a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.” The birds breed on a few islands of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, especially on one of the Hawaiian group, Laysan. This island was specially protected by the United States. Each nest receives but one egg, and the whole island was at one time covered with nests. Some agents of American feather merchants discovered this island and destroyed the birds in the most ruthless manner. They are driven from their nests with the utmost difficulty, and were therefore lamed with stout sticks and then thrown into pits to die slowly of starvation. This was done in order that lhey might become emaciated first and save their captors the trouble of scraping the fat from the skin. It was some time before this atrocity 'was discovered, and when an American Customs officer actually found the lair, 9.50,000 albatross skins were in store; three times as many had been already exported. So u million albatrosses had been done to death in this way. tn spite of a patrol, the demand for feathers caused more onslaughts to be made, and probably 150,000 more birds have perished. A movement is now ' on fool., however, to establish a permanent watching station on the island of Laysan, so that the law cannot again lie set at naught, and the whole race of these fine birds may not be - destroyed. 11