DeBenedicti: Jan 1964 12 Feb. Puerto Suarez, Espanola (Hood) Island, Galapagos a more exact analogy being pushing a heavy object with one's feet, forcing the push with one's shoulder. Mostly the birds I saw were working soft soil or ill humuses at the base of the brush, but one I saw was at least 4 inches down when I scared it away trying to see exactly what it was doing, and I saw several birds 2-3 inches down. Birds may work the same spot for 1-2 minutes after I find them and then wait on. the one I (# 3/5) shot while [short while it was] digging contained much sand and a few small green seeds of (? Cordia) leaf. Dr. Bartholomew said he saw this as well, the birds over- turning the size of the trail. The compressed bill of the species seems well adapted for this sewing as a heavy wedge almost like the longer bill of any [oyster] catcher. The jaw musculature does not impress me as being nearly as heavy as magnirostris although the bill is comparably deep; the structure is much more like fatia. Not withstanding, the crops and gullets contained the same soft seeds of nooguti (mostly) and (? Cordia) buds, as well as much grass. Most had a lot of fat near the bend, on the throat (below) and in the axilla, the fat being quite yellow and requiring a little scraping to remove (the fattest finches I have yet handled). All have very worn bills and some signs of wing molt. One I hit with a rock lost [primarily] almost all its feather from the opposite wing. One of the 9s had at least 2 ova on the right side, as marked on the label, plus a good left ovary 6-7 mm. long. The birds sang only sporadi- cally during the midday and late afternoon. Mockingbird