Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Smithsonian Institution Archives.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
93.
No Black-feet have been seen with the back-rot; indeed
the Laysans are the only ones that are afflicted as far
as we can tell.
Spent an hour with the Boobies this evening, they are
all in normal position, although much more alert and
scared of me than normal, I presume this is because of
our painting effort last night. The paint on the head
shows up much better now, as we put a thin line down each
cheek of the bird. Those flying overhead can now be read
with much facility.
Dave, Dennis, and I went skin diving in the after-
noon. Although the water was cold, we managed a half-
four or so, and Dave and I made it to the reef. There
are many wrasse, butterfly fish, parrot fish, and lots of
others I have not seen - there is a great difference
between the fish here and at Johnston.
Sunday 10 Jan., 1965 We bled five birds today - all sick
Laysans - two so bad that they had to be killed.
Two 10 cc. samples were taken from one bird, he died as
a result - he was one of the very sick ones - could barely
walk, could not fly, sore covered most of back. The
two we killed, plus one that died sometime between 1400
yesterday and 900 today, were taken to S. pt. and dumped
into the sea. The disease must be contagious if all the
birds affected are in the same small area. It seems
unlikely that we could arrest the disease by disposing of
the dead, as the same condition was seen last year in the
same area, and is probably firmly entrenched in the soil,
if it is some virus or bacterial disease.
11 Jan. Did the Blue-faced Booby hourly colony count
today - it rained almost all day long. The rain seems
to affect the leaving of the birds, as many more re-
mained in the colony than last time. The hourly numbers
were as follows, from 0745, 0990, 1000 . . to 1800.
95; 48; 14; 16; 18; 22; 21; 23; 41; 74; 89.
One bird, E7, a ♂, remained in the colony all day -
if he left he would have had to go out, fish, and re-
turn within an hour, which seems unlikely in lieu of
the length of time away from the colony that the other
birds spend. Again, most birds remain in the same