120. 26 Feb. Rat trapping all morning. Alan and I start at 0900 and just finish by lunch at 1200. We catch 119 rats, 11 of them unmarked, a total of 30 of them were not previously caught. We are all exhausted after five or six 17 hour days, so we take a quick nap after lunch. About 1500 Bob and I attempt to get Black-feet ectoparasites and blood. Bob earns for himself the coveted Willet award for a new ornithological first. While holding a bird while I went for pliers, he strangled it to death. Not knowing it was dead he banded it. Alas and alack, we had to put the on another bird. Bleeding a bird if it is freshly dead does work - I got 10 cc. easily from the dead Blackfoot, who was immediately skinned and is now FN 20441. Meanwhile, Alan searches for Laysans to band, but draws a blank in that quarter also - there is a very conspicuous absence of Laysans from the island. After chow we all run about getting Berlezes, weather, boobies, etc. I show Alan around the Booby and Laysan Albatross study areas - he will do that from now on. After a good flick we attempt once again to take a chink out of the goal of 1001 Laysans banded this month, but find almost no birds about. All the regular locations are deserted, for no apparent reason - our disturbance has not been as widespread as is the lack of Laysans - it must be some weather factor. I had found a Bonin Is.x Petrel after chow, so I do a McBee on it when we dribble in from banding - about 2400. It is illegible 0100 by the time I hit the hay. 27 Feb. We attempt and get away with the impossible today - we do both the activity count and the shore- bird and seal census simultaneously. It is easy with the 3 of us, one on the tower and two doing the count. I find 5 RTTB that I band and bleed, giving us a small series of blood from another species. All the results haven't been added yet for shorebirds, etc., but it looks as though all the Laysans that are going to hatch have done so. Activity - RFB building nests like mad, many birds landing in the NAF and pulling for twigs at the Tribulus and Solanum, which is taking a beating, what with Frig, Blue-faced Boobs, and RFB all pulling at it. The RFBs are great pirates, stealing twigs from one-anothers bills