97. 16 Jan., 1965 As usual with Saturdays, a good part of the day is taken up with the shorebird and seal census. Jim and I took the beaches - two interesting discoveries. First, Sand Island is completely gone again - so, seals-seals - seals all over the island, we found 74 of them, 12 of those we banded yesterday (does this 12 of 20, or 60 per cent, reflect that 60 per cent of the seal population is on the island, or that there are 124 seals in the atoll?), and a total of 42 that were tagged. There was an increase in Sanderling Tattlers - we found 14 of them on the east beach. They were for the most part in the Scaevola near the beach. Is their increase during the present (very) foul weather due to the fact that the reef, on which they feed during the day, is awash with heavy surf, with the consequent only dry area available (remember Sand Is.is gone) in our little paradise. This seems likely but, unfortunately not provable. One Black-foot Albatross egg has hatched - both parents are near the nest, one closely brooding the downy white chick. 15 or so other Black-foot nests were spot checked, but all had eggs. Our Black-foot count actually increase by 10 to 162, whereas the Laysan count was about the same. Considering that Dennis and I swithc about (alternating beach and interior) and that today Jim Priest was along, our constancy in numbers must reflect that which is here. I think our sampling of such things as shorebirds, nesting Laysans and Blackfeet, adult Blue-faced Boobies and, until recently, Browns, is good. Less good is Red-foot Boobies and Frigates, and worst of all are total island use by Bonins, walker Laysans, Wedge-tails when they are here. Behavior again today on boobies, again they closed up early. 17 Jan., 1965 Spent the day checking the boobies every hour, the sky was very light at 0700, and most of the boobies had already gone. They had all begun to sleep very early the night before. The moon was full, there were almost no clouds. Saw Jim Priest off this P.M. He stayed since Thur,