“The birds nesting in the scaevola,” says the report, “are tame or, depending on the point of view, too innocent or stupid to fly from their nests when approached. The explanation for this habit is their nesting from time immemorial in areas where no predatory animals, two or four legged, ever have existed. (This, by the way, is a notable characteristic of bird life in the Antarctic. The notorious skuas, with whom even the frigates could hardly compare for blood-thirstiness, will not even bother to move when men pass through a flock of them on the ice.) Tame birds were not killed off but lived to reproduce their kind. Now, unfortunately, Pacific islanders employed as laborers, occasionally club the nesting birds at night preparatory to a feast. Such vandalism and resulting pandemonium in the rookeries should be stopped by legislation.” The ancestors of these and other kinds of sea birds have inhabited the islands during the nesting seasons for milleniums, catching fish and other sea life as food for themselves and their nestlings. _Eagles as Indian Pets_ The proud eagle was once kept as a “domestic animal.” Memories of this practice have been obtained from the Shoshoni Indians of the Nevada desert. As recently as fifty years ago individual Indians owned eagle aeries in the mountains. These constituted about the only private property recognized by the tribe and rights were zealously maintained. Expert climbers who scaled the cliffs took the young eagles from their nests. They were subsequently reared in cages or tied to rocks. The purpose was to harvest their feathers for arrows, decoration, or magical rites. The birds were fed pocket gophers and young groundhogs. When the birds were full grown the feathers were plucked. Then the captives were taken to the top of a cliff and released. _The Giant Insects of the Carolines_ Giant walking sticks seven to nine inches long, titan spiders that walk on water, little black crickets that dive and swim long distances under water are some of nature’s curiosities on mountainous, jungle-covered Kusaie, easternmost of the Caroline Islands. Especially unusual are the winged-blue-and-green walking sticks with their fantastic hand-over-hand way of walking. Among the largest of all insects is a walking stick found on the nearby island of Truk. It is reddish-brown and wingless with a body nine inches long. The huge spider’s usual abode is the foliage of long grasses overhanging jungle streams. There it lies in wait for the insects which are its usual prey. When alarmed the big spider drops off the grass into the water and starts running swiftly over the surface. It is provided with “water shoes,” bristle arrangements on its feet. Probably it does not even get its feet wet.