15 10-8-63 We began early today as at 2:30 there was a tidal wave alert for the island which lasted until 445 hours. Then back to sleep until 1000.. Skinned out the sparrow which was really a mess - many many shot in him, and I had to sew the skin three times. Spent until 1300 fiddling with the equipment and then out to hunt and look at booby behavior. Saw nothing of note. At 1950 another finch flew over the buildings, so I have not eliminated the population yet. Helped Bill set his traps and then watched the flick. Concern Masked and Brown Booby behavior. Both of these boobys are very attentive to eggs and chicks. The egg is incubated constantly and the incubating bird cannot be flushed off the nest unless one moves it bodily or runs at it. Masked Boobys are even more attentive to chicks of the predown stage and will hold their ground against all attacks by people. If the bird is captured and removed from the nest and chick (especially if there is a chick) the bird on release moves quickly back to the nest and chick inspite of a person being within several feet of the nest. I believe now that each member of the pair normally incubates or broods for 4 to 6 hours at a stretch, rarely longer than six hours. Older Chicks (in the downy or feathered out stages of development) may be left alone all day by both parents, but the family group apparently reunites at dusk each evening until the chick is fledged and on his own. Males with their high pitched voices are distinguishable in every pair from the low-pitched voice of the females. Masked booby nests are always placed directly in the ground, and the two under observation now are unlined scrapes in the soil. Many of the observations on Masked Booby behavior are applicable to Brown Boobys. Brown booby nests are placed on the ground, but are lined with vegetation, and often partially or completely surrounded by bushes (here Scaevola) which Masked Booby nests never are close to. Brown Boobys while very attentive to their eggs and chicks can be easily flushed from their nests: As an matter of note, it is particularly difficult to capture Brown Boobys during the day, while Masked can be caught at any time. Brown boobys can take off either downwing (Masked cannot, and require about 50-75 feet of level ground, facing available wind to get off.) or into the wind, and get airborne very quickly. In a sense, it may be