divided into three sections comparable to that used in the 
i 
SIO 9 report as follows: 
AREA a. Honolulu to Southern Grid (Howland-Baker) via 
Johnston Atoll and Smithsonian Grid #1 , 24 
January-4 February. 
AREA b. Southern Grid to American Samoa and return with 
island operations throughout the Phoenix group, 
12-26'February. 
AREA c. Southern Grid to Oahu via Canton and Christmas 
Islands, 6-19 March. 
Present Cruise SIC 9 
AREA a. Total Birds ' 2512 19,542 
Bird numbers in all three sections of SIC 11 cruise were 
essentially the same; but species group representation varied. 
Terns, however, were the dominant group in all three areas 
and accounted for 63 % of the total in AREA a. The shearwater- 
petrel group accounted for 21^ in the area. During SIC 9 
the vast majority of birds were shearwater-petrels, primarily 
migrating Sooty/Slender-billed Shearwaters (14,361 ). 
During the present cruise, 4 peak days were noted, 1) 
25 January, one day south of Oahu, where Sooty Terns were 
abundant; 2) 31 January, vicinity of Johnston Atoll, Sooty 
» 
Terns abundant; 3) 3 February, just above 5 North. An abun¬ 
dance of feeding flocks of predominantly Sooty Terns and dark 
phase Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were encountered throughout 
the afternoon. Total birds for this day accounted for roughly 
