Husted, Dayle N. 1964 25 Bobby, the captain is very good about it, but the others don't seem too happy to do it. The birds were tagged No. 0510-11-12-13-14 and they were collected at longitude 151°, latitude 19°-17°. The birds were checked for parasites and Mallophaga and mites were found. One of the Dark-rumped Petrels had a piece of fresh squid in its mouth. The Dark-rumped Petrel had white rumps. The birds all showed some signs of molt, but were mostly in new plumage. Their brood patches were fully feathered, so I believe they will start breeding about next month. The Dark-rumped Petrels were larger than the White-necked Petrel. The White-necked Petrel also had tinges of dark on its neck, but it wasn't very pronounced. In all the birds, the distal 2/3 of the feet were black and the peroximal 1/3 was pink. The outside toe was black all the way to the ankle? The legs were pinkish purple, the gape was pink with bluish edges. The bill was black and the iris was dark brown. During the day, several flocks were seen, they were composed of Sooty Terns, Dark-rumped Petrels, Wedgetails, and Petrel sp. Some small flocks were seen that were composed of Petrels sp. and Wedgetails. Also during the day, Fairy Terns and Tropicbirds were seen. Many of the Dark-rumped Petrels were seen sitting on the water and the ship got surprisingly close to them. Again I was the blunderbuss. This morning I could have shot 3 Dark-rumped Petrel, but only got one of the bunch because I couldn't get shells into that monstrosity fast enough. July 23, 1964: Today the number of birds and flocks decreased. The number of Dark rumped Petrels decreased sharply. Some Dark rumped Petrels were seen sitting in the water this morning but with some restraint we didn't shoot them. Last night Bobby said it was oke to go ahead and shoot and he said he would tell the mates to stop. I think I will only shoot when he is at the wheel though, because good relations with the crew is a necessity. Today we mostly caught up