Friday 29 May 1953 (cont) same tree where I collected golden possum. This one very active. Fired 2 shots at where it had been--3rd brought it down. Lik Lik was a help in tracing its movements thru the branches. Our 3rd brown-faced Ring-tail. Jacked the trail down the gorge which Jimmy opened up today. Very steep. Little noise in this forest. Much prefer the scrub above camp. Will have more trails cut here. David and Lik Lik hunted without success this P.M. All the boys skinned well today. Finished before noon. Len is still finding new orchids & ferns every day. Also a yellow-flowered Rhododendron (which I could recognize) and a simple- flowered red R. with small leaves. Would not have known it as a R. Geoff's boys found 2 new frogs today. This collection will be most interesting to our Herp. Dept. Studied Tate's "Rodents" & compared some of my measurements with the Shaw-Meyer report. Clouds blowing in most of day. Moon visible tonight but clouds are driving over our pocket from the east. A few drops of rain today Some wind tonight. Tent is secure. Saturday 30 May Top Camp Our first day of real rain. Clouds low and a real downpour now and again. My work kept me out of the wet in the A.M. and this afternoon I have spent in the tent reading and writing. 7 specimens: my ring-tail; 1 Melomys; 1 white-bellied Rattus and 4 gray-b. Rattus (all in David's trap line). The rest of us drew a blank. Had Isilele put his traps along edge of forest. All finished except filling possum before lunch. Len went off for the day to botanize the Kwariu River. Back about 4 P.M.--soaked. Geoff and I had a fine lunch: ham & sausage, onions in gravy, peas, hot rolls, cheese, jam, tea. David and Lik Lik cut new trail in forest this P.M. May be too wet for jacking tonight. It has warmed a little but a cold damp has settled in camp. Birds very active in flowering trees today. Memorial Day at home. I wonder if the M.G.C. pool is to be opened today? 9 P.M. and it is pouring! During dinner the moths and other insects came down on us and Geoff put up 2 light traps--one in each tent. His best harvest at this camp. This material should be new and important. Wrote Brownie a letter tonight with news to pass on to the Urner Club and Montclair B. C. Temperature very moderate tonight. My tent is well-trenched so I am still dry. The expensive Egyptian tent cloth seems to be waterproof. It is good to have a tent of my own so I can spread out. Think I'll go to bed & read now. Rice pudding for dinner tonight. (HOPE YOU HAD A LOVELY DAY, DARLING! GOOD NIGHT) Sunday 31 May Top Camp A wet misty day. Not cold. Tonight the stars are out and the moon is rising but a thin mist is hanging in the camp hollow and in the mossy forest. Went jacking over the new trail David cut. Trees dripping. My luck still held-- brought in 1 of the brown-faced ringtail possum: a ♀ with 1 small pouch young. My 4th of this species. Also climbed down into the ravine behind camp. Nothing. Lamps were lit early for insects. Geoff discovered bats flying over the tents. One lucky close shot gave me a new species for this camp. Believe it is a Miniopterus but looks different than others collected on Cape Vogel. New species up here will come hard from now on. Today is the 1st day of our 11th collecting week. Totals for the first 10 weeks: 614 specimens; 85 marsupials; 335 bats; 194 rodents. Almost 3 weeks of this was lost time moving from Menapi to "Top Camp". The next 3 months will be almost solid collecting. Only 1 Rattus in my traps this A.M. Rain had sprung or ruined bait on nearly all traps. No one else caught anything. Set new line of Museum Specials (25) on new jacking trail