11) Again I’ip. puzzled on nest counts. I find notes on only 31 (l? in tfe 
south end of the island; 2 near the FW sign (west); and 12 distributed in 
Scaveola elsewhere around the island). Contents were noted for 12 (1 SDC; 
1 MDC; 8 LDC; 2 dependent young). As I remember the remainder were almost 
all large downies. 
12 ) 05 ! m also of the opinion that flemales were far more numerous on the ? 7 
island than were males. (Do males predominate on Nihoa and the near islands] 
Of 121). roosting birds handled, 93 were adults (68 females; 25 males); 29 
were subadults; 2 were immatures. I believe that these ratios should be 
pretty good since I handled most of them and did not make any special 
attempt to capture a particular age or sex. 
13) My original estimate was 15,000 adults and I ! ll stay with this as a 
minimum. The birds were pretty well distributed throughout much of the 
center of the island and I always flushed groups when crossing the island 
and I had no difficulty in capturing a 100 birds in a short time. 
14-) After seeing Lays an, I 1 11 go along with your estimate of 10 chi 
Each of the two adults collected was with a begging chick. Neither 
been skinned but both were molting in the same manner as birds collected 
during the non-breeding season and previously considered "sub-adults ?? . 
I f m now sure that Gray-backs have a speckled crown during the non-breeding 
season. 
15 ) I think your estimate may be low since we actually handled over 1500 
birds. I ! m not too confident in the breakdown of chicks but my guesstimates 
are: eggs: none (or VERY few); SDC - 100; LDC - 1000; dependent (?) young, 
including flying immatures - 2000. A check of banding data showed only 
20 !? nestlings ff banded. I think this is mostly because banding was con¬ 
centrated in the ro^osting areas around the perimeter of the island raher 
-rk^in the breeding areas a short distance inland. I do not recall seeing 
any eggs nor fio any of the notebooks mention any. Did you see any? I"m 
sure I would have taken a few parents if I had seen any eggs. I did see 
a small proportion of small downies but by far the greatest number were 
stub-tailed juves or larger. I think the ratio of immatures to adults 
(roosting) was less than on Laysan - do you remember this?? 
16) My original estimate was 250 birds and I T 11 stay with this even though 
I ! m less confident after Laysan. I’m sure that I saw at least 50 "families" 
scattered around the island in Scaevola . At night I saw birds in all areas 
that I worked.(where there was Scaevola , of course). I did not work the 
Casuarina s or Cocos so those would be in addition. 
Of five nests recorded - 1 had an egg ( Scaevola south od camp); four 
chicks from large downies to stub-tailed juves. In addition I handled at 
least 5 dependent but or flying immatures. The immatures are smaller, have 
a different voice and white shafts to the rectrices. I’m also pretty sue 
that the sexes OP A PAIR can be distinguished on wing! lengthfbut ray series 
is small and I haven’t had a chance to wjrk on It yet. ^ 
I have little to add on shorebirds. I’ve# pulled all of the banding 
data so Laysan should be out in a few days. anodrcraod arp'arge mrov'erlng 
The only seal data for Lisianski was the beach count made at noon on 
2 September by Dave: 14-1 animals: 60 adult, sex not recorded; 59 adult 
males; 12 adult females; 10 pups. 
* ' ^ ( / 
£ ytA JUM s. L - ■ . 
Charles A. Ely 
