the island. Collecting along the trail and in the semi-mangrove abutting the cocoanuts yielded more birds in the four hours than the two days had in all the other places on the island. Mr. Beck shot a male and female graybird, thereby definitely es- tablishing its occurrence here, and two minors were also shot, making two additions to the birds mentioned in the brief of the islands. Monday morning's work lifted the curse, which from the collector's point of view, seemed to hang over the island. Monday afternoon the France anchored at Nyanga, Mr. MacEachrean's place on Vella Lavella. There is a small coral reef protecting the anchorage which is a smooth one except at flood tide when the breakers are boosted high enough to come over the reef. Mr. MacEachrean, a Scotchman with one arm, lives with his wife in a leaf house on the summit of a knoll in the plantation, while the barracks of the native laborers with their canoe houses, sheds, etc., are built on the shore facing the east. When the France arrived Mr. MacEachrean welcomed us and imparted to us his knowledge of the country inland, and the manner he considered best in which to penetrate it. By walking through the plantation to the north it is possible to pick up a trail following the shore of the island. This trail, which begins about a hundred yards east of the northernmost coconut trees runs by the foothills in such a way as to make it possible to ascend to an altitude of a few hundred