erable climate, "winter-kill" (?) or a latitudinal shift of some kind. This post-winter decrease of grid birds does not happen to be as sharp as the post-summer decrease. In the spring and early summer adults may be increasing in peripheral areas after breeding, nest failure, during long distance foraging, chick abandonment, etc. These post and non-breeding adults together with whatever remains of the winter non-breeding peak form the summer high. Aside from the intuitive simplicity of this pattern there is little evidence to support it over an alternative hypothesis such as correlation with surface temperature or any other ecological parameter. Two pieces of isolated information do however support the age dependant cycle idea. During EGS #5 in early April, Harrington notes that special attention was given to recording the number of white-rumped (pre- sumed to be adult) birds, and that only one such white-rumped bird was seen. Fifty-four birds were recorded during that survey but there is no reference to how many of these were actually checked. In late July-early August on EGS #10 15 white-rumped birds were recorded among 42 actually checked (32 percent). Further investigation of rump color ratios is needed. Little attention was given to rump color during the present cruise but my feeling is that there were few (less than one-fifth?) white-rumped individuals. The survey-to- survey distribution of albatross within the grid is on the whole too small statistically to infer much. In general though it appears that the pattern of high density in the northeast and low density in the southwest corner holds true when the overall grid density (of albatrosses) is not undergoing a marked change. When rapid rate of change is occurring the pattern becomes confused or shifts to the southwest as in EGS #1. At any rate the static conditions appear to bring the maximum density close to the coast in the north- east corner of the grid. Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) # Obs. = 113. High numbers were moving across the grid along a southwest line which appears to lead from Point Conception roughly toward Christmas Island of the Line Island Chain. This survey's data have been lumped with the data for EGS # 14 and are discussed in more detail there. Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus creatopus) # Obs. = 2. Pink-foot is by no means a regular grid bird; preferring more coastal waters and being regularly seen around the Channel Islands. It is however often associated with Sooty Shearwater flocks and should be expected wherever sooties are common. One bird was seen on each of the two days that sooties were most abundant (Sections 6 and 8).