Haederson C.D. 1967 Field Notes March 17 Off Layson Island Celery were descended. She quickly drew about 15 Bl.-f. Albatross but none were observed eating anything. All picked at a few items and then took off. One Black-f. Albatross in Babbling plumage was observed several times yesterday. All pinions on the right wing were pure white. The bird also had a rectangular-shaped white area across the belly. There are very few Soot Terns around the island and from what can be seen from offshore no large colony on Layson at this time. According to Stone Kridle's records most species should have chicks by this time. Last year at this time in March he was finding well fledged grown (at least 1/2) chicks for most species. However, on the trip we have found only a few nestings for such species as Blue-f. + Red-f. Booby. Mostly we are finding nests under construction and fresh or only moderately incubated eggs. I had hoped for large numbers of chicks so that weights and complete plumage description could be made. To date, I can have been able only to take egg measurements for a few species and have taken no weights from chicks. The Soot Terns available on each island when combined with the misty days and bad weather that have been experienced have precluded taking weights + description from the few chicks thus far presented. Very few birds have been checked to this point because we have been unable to work at night at the choice locations because of the weather. If we can get onto Layson tomorrow we still plan to spend 2 nights and 3 days there so perhaps I'll be able to get something done. March 18 Layson Island After near two days of idle waiting the surf moderated and we were able to land. Finally got the last float load of gear + people on the island at 1:20 p.m. Set up camp + then began capturing Layson Frigate. It took us until nearly dark to capture the 100 birds we were after. Haederson C.D. 1967 Field Notes March 18 Layson Island The 100 birds we were after. These birds are certainly much easier to capture than were the ones on Nikoia Island. A full day half a day of trapping around or Nikao only yielded 2 birds whereas several hours here yielded more than the 100 birds we wanted. These birds will be transplanted on Southeast Island, Pearl + Hermes Reef. The first impression is that these birds are more colorful than those on St. Nikao. They appear somewhat long and their bills seem to be thick with a much more pronounced look on the upper mandible. The impression is that they also sing more but this may be simply due to the large male present here on Layson. When we first arrived I scanned the shore of the lagoon with my binoculars. There appeared to be several hundred Shortwings in numerous large groups. There will have to be checked sometime tomorrow. After dark Stone and the others went down to the lagoon to capture some Layson Teal while I worked around checking birds for bands. In five hours I covered about 1/2 of the island. She didn't meet with much success where most species of terns were concerned since the moon is slightly passed + full and these species are pretty alert. Although about 400 Albatross were checked none were found with bands. Only a few of the several hundred Bonin Island Petrels that were checked were banded and these were all in the vicinity of the campsite. Sacked out at 2 a.m. March 19 Layson Island Woke up around 6:30 and ate a hearty breakfast of coffee and peanut butter + jam sandwich. Around 8:30 am Dick Woer and I started off from camp on a complete circuit of the island. Our purpose was to count seals + chicks + obtain good observation. The others followed us at a distance of about 1/2 mile tagging seal pups