crabs "were very common among the coconut husks with carapace up to 5” across. 
Two species of skinks raced along the path and along tree trunks. A dark- 
colored gekko was found occasionally in dense foliage. 
The entire island is heavily fo/rested with coconuts, Pisonia , lush Scaevola , 
and others except for the area N of the lake which becomes a mire during the 
rainy season and even during the dry season is soft and wet. The area is covered 
with freshwater bulrushes, hiding dozens of golden plover and an occasional 
tattler. 
We set up mist nets in this marsh with hopes of banding shorebirds. We 
swept across toward the lake spread out to scare up unusual birds. Found nothing 
but some dragon flies and more golden plover (plumage very gray) . Saw more 
lorikeets around the lake edge. I tasted the water and there was no trace of 
salt.-- pure rainwater. Two species of mosquito fish live there in large 
numbers . 
We scanned the lake with telescope and highpowered binoculars for ducks but 
saw only the common local species of palm frond and coconut ducks. Looked for 
ducks for a short time around lake T s edge and in local puddles with no luck. 
Caught no shorebirds. Banded one fairy tern that Capt. Holway caught in his 
insect net. Previously only 2 birds had been banded on Washington so we were 
well on our way to breaking the old record. Fred hid the record before lunch 
and on the way back to the village it was smashed as a third fairy tern was 
captured. I collected assorted lizards on the way back. 
Went sightseeing around the little village after lunch. I was a little 
amused to discover that the local inhabs. keep frigate birds tied to a perch 
not only as pets but even as status symbols ? At several locations in the 
village there are frigates parking lots where as many as 70 birds are set in 
neat rows. In addition to this nearly every hut has one of these grotesquiries 
sitting out front, fat and ugly. The beasts are not only disagreeable; they are 
detrimental to the village because the men spend large amounts of ? catching 
fish for them while he could be supporting his family or working on his property. 
Small wonder that many of the frigates are not tied up - it is a lazy bird and 
extremely greedy and would not dream of forsaking an abundant and steady income. 
2 6 November 
Having spent the night on the ship for some reason we charged in again 
through the breakers. The island has formidable 10 ft. surf breaking all 
around but mere! dien these are narrow channels blasted in three of four 
places and when one of these breakers rolls into the channel it sinks and 
loses all fearsomeness. 
Dick and I took nets and cameras and walked back to the marsh again to 
catch even more fairy terns. He got some good shots of the Lorikeet with his 
400 mm lens. As we entered the marsh the curious fairy terns saw us and flew 
from their high roosting places to investigate it close range. We did nearly 
forty before they lost interest and resumed their hiding places in the forest. 
I hiked across to the lake to have another look for ducks; there was no 
official sighting of a duck as yet on the island. However, along the trail 
Dick and I saw a female duck rise out of the canal used for transportation 
of coconuts. It was typically light brown, of average size, with blue 
scapulars and can only be tentatively identified as a female shoveler. We 
saw it for only an instant, and could not find it again. On the way back we 
saw several White-tailed Tropicbirds and Doug collected one along the beach. 
