Amerman, Kenneth 1963 November 11--Cleaned up the lab in a mad rush about 9 a.m. since a plane was due and it was suspected the Western Area team might be on it (on day early). We finished with only seconds to spare, just in time to see the plane turn back to Midway, unable to land because of trouble with the landing gear. A few moments of tense drama on an island paradise. November 12--Inspection team arrived about 1000, left about 1530. They seemed rather concerned about the rats, more than anything. Jim went back on the plane to have his head and thumb looked at. He rather ingloriously smashed into a shutter chasing rats; this didn't satisfy his masochistic impulses so he sliced his thumb with a scalpel. We gave him enough errands to run to keep him from getting too drunk. Spotted a small teal in the puddle by the fuel tanks and tried to take it whole without success, couldn't spot it again. Banded one Golden Plover from net, four Bonin Petrels. November 13--Bill and I banded albatross all day on the north half of the island, concentrating on the Laysans in the rat study area and antenna fields. We got about 150 new birds. Locations were noted in the study area. Many of the Laysans were sitting on apparent nests and were slow to get off. Many are making the "talking to chick" noises, even those not on or near apparent nests. We saw one pair copulating in the field behind the volley ball court in the afternoon. Found an unbanded brown booby sitting on two eggs in an old road in the northwest sector of the island.