(53) December 15 Hicks joined the field party again and we all penetrated the same territory back of the plantation.I think that these white-eyes are just in a new plumage,very thick,because they are so hard to bring down with the aux even at point-blank range.The midget seems to be the same-tough as nails.Both sing out in plain view and after gleaning three or four with a dozen shots I became fed up and began to hunt for new stamp-ing ground.I went northward to the end of the coconuts and got into a grassy draw that ran between two ridges.There were a number of cattle paths;one of these tracks through the tall swale,matted ferns and weeds took me well into the bush where I found myself walking on an old trail. Probably left by the natives who are very nearly defunct on this island. The D.O.informs us that there are not more than a dozen pure-blooded people left.Many years ago they were completely ravaged by the vigorous Mono men who slew many and carried the rest off in bondage.Rumors of a still large and thrivingly heathen village have been wafted from the center of Shortland,probably untrue.Although one old man who ran away from Lofung plantation years ago has been reported at various times to be leading a comfortable life somewhere in the interior.There is also a ru- mor of a lake.Both have not yet revealed themselves to the patrols of O.H.M.S.Miller.More of this later.Following the old cuttings for a mile I shot a blackhead and a red-bellied flycatcher.This is the best collect-ing ground I have struck.Minas and red-breasted doves and the omnivorous "kooru"pigeons,the red-knobbed and the gray were feeding in the tops of the tall timber,dropping the shucks of their delectable repast everywhere. I flushed a common ground dove getting a good look at it and nothing else. In the after noon I shot another blackhead and a hawk,apparently one of the blue-backed variety,but could not find it.Many birds slip away from us in this mysterious manner;they are knocked down and then manage to crawl or flutter off to die.In repeated doses these misses try the spirit and can only be purged by a selected and vociferous exhalation of profanity.Strange to relate I came upon the same hawk in about the same vicinity later and added it to the collection.Compensation came also in the ap- proach of one lone crow which came almost immediately to my crafty calling He was shot and proved to be much larger than the species taken to date on the larger islands to the southward.Differing from the Choiseul type,the beak is entirely black and the iris a peculiar whitish color.I tried to stalk a hornbill several times without avail;he,too,may be different.I think that the birds here are closer to the Fauro species than any other. It seems doubtful that Bougainville can be represented although Shortland is part of the same volcanic arc.Certainly it is older- that is,above the surface of the sea longer;for there are two active volcanoes on Bougain- ville while Shortland is unusually low,poorly drained and shows evidence inland of age-old coral deposition.The only good water gushes up in cool springs.We all spent a cool evening at the D.O.'s with beer and conversa- tion.He(Mr.Miller)is a well-educated product of Warwickshire and has put in quite a term in the Gilbert Is.He told us that the original Shortland natives,known as Alu people,were wiped out by the braves from Mono and to his knowledge only one survivor is still living.Long before that the first settlers on the island were migrants from Mono.The cross-bred remains of this population now live on the salt water in scattered villages,fearing to venture any distance inland because of the story of a"lost village" and its savage inhabitants that is still supposed to be in existence some- where in the interior.He said that the run-away labor boy is reported to be surviving on his own in the back country as he has been for over four years.He verified our observations concerning the drainage and mentioned several fine springs,some very large.He has patrolled through the island