NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF EASTER ISLAND

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Abstract
Summary: Information on the occurrence and breeding status of sea‐birds at Easter Island has long been scanty and incomplete. In order to obtain accurate information and in particular to investigate reports of a supposed breeding site of a “brown‐plumaged petrel”, we spent three weeks on the island, including 12 days camping out on the uninhabited, waterless islet of Motu‐Nui.The petrel proved to be the Christmas Island Shearwater Puffinus nativitatis, whose breeding range is thus extended by nearly 2,000 miles. Ten other species of sea‐birds were definitely identified and specimens, photographs and breeding records were obtained for most of them. It is shown that the bird species frequenting Easter Island are, like the human inhabitants, predominantly of Polynesian origin—in fact the American continents are not represented at all.The paper opens with a brief outline of present‐day conditions on the main island, and concludes with an account of the “bird‐cult” rituals which are known to have been a feature of life in Easter Island for centuries.

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