SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
WASHINGTON 25. D. C. 
USCG LORAN Station 
Kure Island 
USN Air Station 3080 
FPO San Francisco 
Dear I-iaryanna; 
We got over to Kure on Sept, 20, We have very nice quarters 
here, Jim and I share a room in a suite with the CO complete with 
living room and kitchenette. We have a lab in another section of 
the building tiith work tables, cabinets for storage, and a specially 
built drying rack for skins. As usual everyone here has been most 
cooperative. The station has two 4-wheel drive vehicles and it is 
possible to drive about 2/3rds of the beach of Green I, As the 
station’s runabout is out of commission because the keel is ripped 
off we have not gotten to the other four islands in the atoll as 
yet. They do not appear to have any vegetation on them, and seem 
to be used mainly by seals and noddies. We are having a very 
difficult time doing much banding because the brush is so thick. 
There is very little we can catch in the daytime and at night we 
make so much noise crashing through the Scaevola after roosting- 
birds that many fly before we can get near them. 
The enclosed species checklist will give some idea of the birds 
which are presently using the island. Our most interesting bird 
records are a duck (green-winged teal ?) collected yesterday, a 
questionable sight record of a female shoveller duck in the lagoon, 
and a passerine, probably Seiurus sp,, collected last week when we 
saw two other passerines which we were unable to collect. We have 
collected about 3® birds for skins, mostly immatures and migrants, 
and some birds which have hit the Loran antenna. The island is 
alive with rats, apparently the Polynesian rat, R, exulans , and we 
have collected over 50 already. The rats have lice and mites, but 
I have found no fleas. If Binion would like I will send back some 
parasites for identification now, I have also found tapeworms with 
some regularity, I don't have enough trapping data yet to esti¬ 
mate numbers but the popiaation is certainly in the thousands, and 
rats are running everywhere though the brush, even in the daytime. 
There appear to be from 50 to 100 seals in the atoll now and we 
have tagged 30 so far with the help of the siilors. We have 
banded about 300 birds to date on Green I,, mostly immature boobies, 
frigates, and tropicbirds. V/e are begirming work on three specific 
study areas on the island. One is 550 feet square with stations 
every 50 feet fm trapping rats. The area has nestir^ boobies of 
two species, nesting tropicbirds, and wedgetails and Bonin I, 
petrels. It will probably have albatross. It includes sections 
of all the habitat types on the island* Tl^e other two areas were 
placed in regions of shearwater and petrel burrow concentrations 
and are 200 feet square. They are primarily in grassy habitat as 
this is what the burrowing birds seem to prefer, .-Hq have also 
!• OhJe "tVe Passer u)<».s py* o-vesper sp«.rvou>. 
