Amerson, B. 1963 to the Whale Island area. We left at 7:40 with the rubber boat leading the way. Mail was first carried to Tern Island and we continued on. The whaleboat had to be lead through some areas due to small coral heads jutting up. We arrived at Whale-Skate Island about 10 a.m., walked around the island and decided on a camp site. The gear was then brought in by rubber boat and camp was set up (about middle of island). Only one island is now present and it appears the islands might have joined together. This island is now approximately 2785 feet long and 225 feet wide (widest point) and 5 feet high. A map will be on a separate page. The island is almost completely vegetated except for the beaches. Plants are similar to that of East Island except more mesoschmid and more Chenopodirm. There are no thistle-like plants. Three types of grass occur which cover most of the island. Our camp was made at the narrowest stretch with the best landing being at this point (even for a whaleboat). The island has many birds, mainly: Masked Boobies (nesting), Frigatebird (nesting), Common Noddies (nesting), Grey-backed Terns (nesting), Red-footed Boobies (nesting) (very few). The beaches are covered with seals and turtles. Just after lunch the front section of the rubber craft blew out and the boat had to return to fix it. During the afternoon I banded Black-footed Albatross chicks (almost ready to fly) and Fred banded Masked Boobies. During the night we banded adult and immature Common Noddies. Before going to bed we discovered we had banded exactly 900 birds today. One immature Booby (red-footed) was caught which had a band on it.