A. Anderson 
1964 
Oct 20 (cont . ) 
the total banded to 2,000. Came back and skinned birds, made skeletons. In 
the afternoon we used the holding net again on immature sooty terns, banding 
900. At night most banded adult sooty terns in the dead Sida near camp. 
(1500) Others banded Audubon 1 s shearwater and miscellaneous terns. 
Oct. 21 
Began the day by banding 500 immature sooty terns in the Lepturus near 
the lagoon. Made more skins and skeletons in the heat of the day. Netted 
Sooty terns in the afternoon, and finished another 1000 frigate nestlings 
late in the afternoon. 2000 adults after dark. 
5 instances of ? frigates chasing sooty terns were observed; one chasing 
fairy tern; one chasing wedgetail; four chasing another frigate. Over 150 
dark phase wedgetails were sitting around the guano pile near camp at 2200; 
no light phase. A wh-th storm petrel, accidentally netted by the alert 
photographer, was collected; also a dk phase wedgetail with a white head and 
other whitish bits. 
Oct. 22 McKean Island to Gardner Island 
Depart McKean 0800 for 6 hr. leg to Gardner; arrived Gardner 1400. 
Landed at the deserted village and made camp in one of the coconut-frond huts, 
ideally suited to the climate: no walls. Two men went out after plants, one 
after miscellany; two took the rubber raft and went all the way to the inland 
end of the lagoon. The village bore many trees of its recent inhabitants: 
journals, record books, travel notices, ets. The coconut plantation extends 
roughly halfway down the west side of the island. The dry weather, causing 
the death of great patches of coconut trees, has severely limited human 
visibility on the island and forced British authorities to abandon their 23 yr 
attempt at establishing a transplanted group ofGilbertese . 
I saw two cats, and several others were seen later in the evening. Several 
dead dogs were found around the village, just a month or less gone. No rats were 
seen. Gekkos , skinks, and Insects were collected data in the evening. 
Got up at six and Paul, Bob, and I were taken down to the E end of the 
lagoon. Woodward and Long collected plants all the way back to camp, one one 
each side of the lagoon, while I made a bird cesus along the N side back toward 
the W side. Several large great frigate colonies in high Pisonia trees were 
mixed with nesting red-footed boobies. Fairy terns roosted at the outskirts 
of these colonies. 8 white-tailed tropic birds were seen; also, 4 red-tailed 
tropic birds, many Hawaiian and common noddies. 17 wandering tattlers, 28 
golden plovers, 15 ruddy turnstones, and eight turtle tracks. The lagoon shore 
was teeming with small fish, including many 1-foot black-tipped sharks. The 
entire ocean beach crest was fronted with a six-foot stand of Scaevola . 
After noon we skinned some of the birds that had been collected, and slit 
the fish that had been poisoned pn the lagoon side over a coral head. More 
skinks and gekkos were hunted. The ship picked us up at 1600 and we sailed 
for Sydney. 
