2 
Preliminary Report, SIC No. 7 
Introduction 
The seventh trip to the Equatorial Islands was made during the period 
January 25-March 22, 1965 . Smithsonian personnel were Max C. Thompson 
(Leader), C. Douglas Hackman (Assistant Leader), Ralph Kirkpatrick, Richard 
Merrill, Paul Woodward and Lawrence N. Huber. G. A. Samuelson, Bernice P. 
Bishop Museum under the auspices of the PMU 6, accompanied the Smithsonian 
party on the latter half of the trip. 
The expected mid-winter slump in breeding birds, especially the Sulidae, 
was encountered. On Howland Island, a large colony of Sooty Terns was 
beginning to nest near the Amelia Earhart lighthouse, a new breeding area 
since the POBS has been underway. Palmyra Island was supporting a large 
breeding population of Sooty Terns, estimated to be near 1,000,000 birds. 
There was little indication that the drought had been broken since the 
last cruise. Howland Island did have new growth of vegetation on it but the 
rest of the islands we visited in the Phoenix group showed little sign of 
having had recent rains. The Line Islands were also in a dry state although 
Christmas had had 18 inches of rain quite recently. Jarvis Island had rain 
during our stay but showed no signs of earlier moisture. 
In addition to the usual islands visited by other SIC trips, the Tokelau 
Islands were visited by the group for the first time. This is the first trip 
to this group of islands to make extensive natural history collections. 
Collections of birds, mammals, fishes, insects, plants and ectoparasites were 
made on the islands. 
The following is a resume of work done on the SIC No. 7 trip: 
37,721 birds banded, 2,728 returns, 75 recoveries, 650 blood samples. 
