117. 22 Feb. (cont.) central roost, and boosts our total number handled there alone to 1318 birds. We still find a good percentage of the birds there unmarked. After supper we set the rat traps. I sure hope that the rain will stop, and that tomorrow will dawn clear for the trapping. Most of the Laysan study nests are now unattended. There were no new Blue-faced Booby nests in the NAF. We found another antenna casualty today - a one-winged Bonin. We found one yesterday, as well as A Laysan that was knocked silly - probably damage to the cerebellum the bird's balance was shot, the hind legs were paralyzed, and it could make only uncoordinated movements of the wings. The bird was extremely accurate in pecking at intruders, however. He was bled, as was one Bonin. We could not draw blood from the wounded Bonins with the small hypodermic needles; the 1 1/2" needle finally succeeded in getting 5 cc. from one of the birds 23 Feb. Today the morning and an hour and a half after lunch was spent catching and working with the rats - rat trapping has hit us again. Most of the animals handled appeared to be coming into or already arrived into breeding condition. Almost all the males had well developed cremasters and testes, and quite a few had enlarged cauda epididymis. There seemed to be a dirth of mites - very few of the animals handled had mites 1, and mites two were not at all abundant. Almost all the females had perforate vulvas, and of those most were swollen and purplish in color. One female had a sperm plug across the vulva, one was lactating, and 3 had embryos that could be felt within. It looks like the trysting season is upon the rat population. They do not look so thin at the present time either. If more food is becoming available to them, we should? see a decrease in the number of Laysan deaths in the antenna fields. Only 98 rats were caught today, of which 20 were new. Before dinner Bob censused the painted vs. unpainted Laysans in the Central roost, and found that 169 out of 261, or 64.8 per cent, of the birds there have been painted. We have painted 1318 birds there, so a simple calculation says that there should be about 2028 birds