The Marshall Islands consist of 29 atolls and 5 coral islands without lagoons arranged in two chains, the Ralik and the Radak chains, which extend in a northwesterly to southeasterly direction. No volcanic rocks are exposed in these islands. The principal islands shown in figure 5 are as follows: _Ailuk_ (also called Ailu, Fisher, Krusenstern, Tindall, Watts). _Arhno_ (also called Arno, Aruno, Auru). _Bikar_ _Bikini_ _Ebon_ (also called Boston Atoll). _Elmore_ (also called Ailinglap, Ailinglapalap, Iringlob). _Eniwetok_ _Jaluit_ (also called Bonham, Taluit). _Kwajalein_ _Likieb_ (also called Likiep). _Majuro_ (also called Arrowsmith, Mezyuro). _Mejit_ _Maloelab_ _Mille_ (also called Mulgrave). _Namorik_ _Namu_ (also called Musquillo, Namo). _Rongelap_ _Wotje_ (also called Romanzov, Wotze, Wozzie). [Illustration: FIG. 5. The Marshall Islands.] ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATION IN MICRONESIA The Micronesian islands were first explored and colonized by a a people who came from Malaysia. It is thought that these people spread into the Palau, Caroline, Mariana, Marshall, and Gilbert islands as a single wave of migration. Following this occupation, the people apparently underwent a normal process of cultural evolution and differentiation. Remains of stone walls, dikes, fences, pillars, graves, and other structures which may be found today at various islands in Micronesia were constructed by the ancestors of the islanders of the present day. It is thought by archeologists that the Polynesians moved eastward into the Pacific islands by way of Micronesia. The date of this wave of migration is thought to have been approximately 1200 A. D. What kinds of birds may have been exterminated by this earliest of human colonization cannot be ascertained. Edible species, particularly megapodes, rails, and pigeons, probably were eliminated or reduced in numbers, as is indicated by later discussions. The first Europeans to visit Micronesia, as far as the present writer can ascertain, left no accounts of the birds significant for the study here reported upon. Magellan, on his trip around the world, was the leader of the first party of Europeans who touched at Guam; this was on March 6, 1521. Rota, Agiguan, Saipan, and Tinian were also discovered by this Portuguese sea captain in the service of the king of Spain. Eltano, one of Magellan's lieutenants, revisited the Pacific and stopped at Rota in 1524. After the voyage of Magellan, other seafarers, mostly in the service of Spain, visited the Micronesian islands. The Caroline Islands were apparently first observed by the Portuguese captain, Diego de Rocha, in 1526. Loyasa and Saavdera, both Spaniards, visited the Marshall Islands in 1526 and 1529, respectively.