NORTHWEST HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, Updated 3:32 p.m. HST October 31, 2000 -- A foreign plant is threatening to drive out the Laysan finch, a bird that scientists have been trying to save for decades, in the northwest Hawaiian islands.

The finches live on Pearl and Hermes atoll, which is just east of Midway. The research vessel Rapture recently paid a visit to the atoll for an update on how the birds are doing.

The atoll is home to 17 different species of seabirds. About 30 years ago, the Laysan finch was introduced because rabbits had destroyed much of the vegetation on the bird's native island.

The northwest Hawaiian islands were once volcanic islands. Over time the islands have receded, but the finch has adapted.

But an introduced plant called verbacina is choking off the native vegetation, including native grasses on which the finch relies.

"We'll try an eradication program in next couple years," David Johnson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says. "It's running to a point where it will take serious effort."

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