Gill, Douglas E., 1964
Page 17
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Smithsonian Institution Archives. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
117 Gill, Douglas E. 1964 were looking for. He worked left, I worked right. Ridges are best, rather than the rubble slopes - Burrows are found at the very base of abrupt outcroppings in cavities there. They vary in depth and distance they extend back: some wee so far back one can't see the end. I found several and tried to memorize where they were in this confer mass of rock. The slope is incredibly steep and one has to be very careful not to slip or it may be very difficult to stop rolling down the rough volcanic rock. I felt very sleepy and often dizzy, undoubtedly due to the altitude and lack of sleep the night before, so I sat down and dozed twice for a few minutes. Once I was rudely awakened by a clattering of noise to my right and a human like honking. I realized it was goat. Numerous coveys of Chuhan keep exploding and calling about the rocks. Their claim call is a "which you" repeated over and over as they sail across the crater. I found around a dozen burrows one of which appeared to be real, recently used, droppings at its entrance and a distinct petrel smell. I met Larry and we discussed our findings and coverage. We must have started at nearly noon and it was now 1600. We had found no back in the burrows, but Larry had found two dead birds in pretty sad condition. We decided to work further off to the right and found seven burrows at the base. We worked our way over to the ridge that separated our canyon from the rest. The clouds come rolling in and out, but up to this time it had been nearly continually misty. Visibility is chopped way down. By the time we got to the ridge the clouds had cleared so the view of the entire crater was spectacular. It was so huge the cliffs and all that it was overpowering, hard to conceive. My sence of balance was really not good and I just didn't have much confidence moving across the cliffs, as Larry did. He was very much a mountain goat. We