Sunday 7 June 1953 (cont) Top Camp that we had celebrated the wrong day for Coronation! (actually on the 2nd). Don't know how G. slipped up on that one! We still had a wonderful time. Also mailing 2 Maneau rolls of film to Kodak. Only 10 P.M. Time for another letter or two. Saw scrub hens in forest today. Have coll. a few moths for G. in tent tonight. Monday 8 June The 60 traps near camp yielded 2 species of Rattus and my first o^Antechinus--now have 3. An easy morning. We were in the clouds and had driving rain from the north for a few hours. Len and I both worked in my tent to keep out of the wind. Unpinned and wrapped a few more specimens in P.M. Rain upset my plans to visit the beech forest and have the boys start trapping there. They put out traps around camp again. Lik Lik and I went out jacking for almost 3 hours tonight. Shot 1 young o^brown-headed ringtail. Looked like small rat when I first saw him. Heard no shots but saw a few bats but no chance to collect. David was out, too, but I heard no shots. We went down the mountain stream gorge to N. of camp. Very steep slopes. Len showed me a giant maiden hair fern he collected--3 feet high. Also another new Rhododendron. Sweet potatoes are still holding out--good! Kim made delicious rissoles tonight out of canned fish. He can fix up all sorts of ordinary food so that it tastes good. His bread didn't quite bake today--doughy in the center--but it still tastes good. Light trap working well for Geoff tonight. He caught a medium sized pale powder blue moth which is very beautiful. Runners left early this A.M. with mail and film. 2 weeks from today we should be settled in our 2nd or Middle camp. Tuesday 9 June Only 1 other specimen today besides the ring-tail--a wh.-b. Rattus--until Jimmy came in about noon with 3 Tree-climbing Rats new to the collection (Pogonoms) grayish-brown with snow-white underparts. Dorsally prehensile tail tip. Larger and different color than our other species of Pogonoms. After an easy morning, I took the boys down the back track into the beech forest to the bark shelter (about 40 min. down hill). There they cooked their rice while I wandered down the trail looking for tree-climbers. I found none. Boys set 67 traps along trail. Tomorrow may tell an interesting story (I hope). Many holes at bases of trees. Climbed back to camp about 3:30 P.M. Saw 2 adult Birds-of-Paradise (long black tails) and one immature. 1 o^ was evidently defending territory; he was chasing the other 2 continually. Many small birds in forest. Took 2 pictures of Hoop Pines. David and I skinned Jimmy's catch. He found them in a hole in a tree. Made 1 skeleton & pickled 2 bodies. Made up & pinned skins after dinner. This makes at least 14 species for this camp. No jacking tonight. Clear in A.M. clouds in P.M. and clear & cool tonight. Betel nut (5 apiece) issued to boys tonight. They were chorus singing most of the evening. Good voices. Saw lovely magenta orchids in bloom on tree today. Some of the beech trees are 3-4 ft. in diameter. Our 2nd camp will be very different from this one--right in the forest--no views. Geoff left his light trap in the forest all night--good catch, large and small. Wednesday 10 June David came back at 8:30 with his beech forest (Nothofagus) catch. A very dark Melomys and several gray-bellied Rattus. Among Isilele's specimens was a pale Melomys (partial albino)--had brown not pink eyes. Thought it was something different at first. Color mutation very similar to Mus. I caught on Cape Hatteras.