Husted, Dayle N. 1964 32 August 14--I got to the Gilbert very easy this morning. The crew of the Gilbert seems like a bunch of characters. Most of today was spent heading north of the Kena area. We were in the Kawaihæ Bay area. I thought that as close to land as we were the birds were fairly scarce, but the crew said there is not too many birds in this area. I was talking to the capt. and he said Shearwaters (he might mean Wedgetails only) were poor fish school followers because they meandered all around the first school. He also said the Terns were good to follow, beacuse they stayed at the head of the fish.school. I spotted a flock at 1625, lat 20° 00N 156° 02'W. We were in the flock at 1638. I estimated about 30 Wedgetails, but there were 41 or 42. The birds acted in about two or three ways. The most (the fish school was composed of skipjack and small fling fish) common was for the birds to fly low over the water and then suddely drop down and stick their head under the water and feed on the small flying fish. All the time, their wings would be flapping. They could lift off the water very quicly and run along on top or fly a short distance and repeat the procedure. The birds that did this were very maneauverable. Other birds would land on the water, floyd their wings and just dabble around. I also saw several birds dissappear under water all except for their tails. I also saw 2 birds completely disappear under water, but they didn't stay long. They might have just caught a wave wrong. I hope the films that the chief scientist took show the birds completely disappearing under water. Some of the Wedgetails arced up high like Dark-rumped Petrel.s In the flock there were four dark phase Wedgetails, but they were lighter than the southern dark phase ones. On the outskirts of