Johnston, D. W. 1964 27 25 Apr I counted number of nests in 100 25 ft.2 quadrats--50 on west and 50 on east side of road. The number of nests was greatly influenced by the covering vegetation--the greater the nests the greater the exposed area of coral sand. Or, the more the clumps of grass and forbs, the fewer the number of nests. A cursory glance at these data indicate an average of about 6-7 nests/252 quadrat or 24-28 nests/100 ft2. Based upon these data and the possible area occupied by the birds, there may be as many as 300,000 birds in the one colony alone. There were a great many birds, both today and last night, sitting or standing at the edge of the nesting area. In fact these standing birds appeared to be denser than the nesting area birds, and perhaps they were the mates of the birds currently incubating eggs. Went over to Flipper Pt. colony about 10:20. Located 2 Gray-backed Tern nests, each with single egg and more under vegetation than many Scooty Tern nests. The gray-back egg measured 44.4 X 32.7 and 43.0 X 33.2 mm. #1855. Pettus d 245-133-26. Dead in road beside coral rubble and tree-heliotroped. Went out after lunch; it started to rain. Along N side of airstrip I saw only 2 Golden Floyers but a short time later a flock of 6 went over. Then, out on the lagoon sandflats there was a roving flock of about 25 Golden Floyers, these being "nervous", flying around a good bit, and calling more than usual. They gave evidence of being a migratory flock, for certainly they were not present yesterday. As I tried to stalk them it began to rain again and I mistakenly fired into a flock of