wings ana body are moved almost imperceptively to take best advantage of 
V 
the currents, and the bird may suddenly *reer sharply off to the side to 
let the current push him back again. Occasionally one will stretch its 
neck or legs and then shake the tail before continuing the flight. On 
one occasion I observed a bird to reach foreword with its loot anu scratch 
the neck under the wing while still maintaining its balance in the air« 
The blending of white at the base of the bill into the brown of the head and 
body is so subtle that is almost looks as if it were shaded in with a brush. 
The same is true of the black and gray around the eye of the Laysan. 
The ship's radar broke down this morning and we missed Laysan. We 
turned ground about noon and finally sighted Laysan about 1400. Two boat 
loids of personnel and gear went ashore at the west boat landing about 1500. 
There is presently a party of four men on Laysan* who have been tnere since 
the middle of January* ana who are working on a project to improve navigation 
aids along the chiin. They have a camp of four tents, a generator, and a 
kerosene stove and refrigerator, in addition to ample supplies of food and 
water. They kindly invited us to a steak dinner when we came ashore. They 
also advised us that this had been the first day in weeks that the boat 
landing had been calm enough to use. They came in with all their equipment 
on a light helicopter based on an LST. 
We set up our two tents in a clear area not too far from the boat landing 
Bob and Ray and I were in one, while Blnion, Allen and Fred took the other. 
There is ample room for 3 in these tents with all our gear, and probably 4 
would not be too cramped. 
