4 - 27-23 
59 
arousing their suspicions - yet they are quicker even than curlew in their 
devilury if there is a chance to sneak in and whack an egg open. They work 
their deviltry by slyness - curlew by straight bluff and pugnacity. 
The Sooty-backed Terns have finally settled on the R.E. corner of the 
Sesuvium patch and have at last begun to lay. There are perhaps 20 eggs 
out of the thousands of pairs. 
By working with extreme caution we got up within close striking range 
of the Laysan Teal. 14 were in sight at once - all of them in pairs but 
keeping in a loose flock squatting in the Sesuvium weathering out the wind 
with heads tucked under their back feathers. When 2 pairs walked past each 
other the o'o' .jumped at each other with the most ludicrous show of threat. 
Saw Plover actually tapping egg again. 
f 
Vile day to have to work but we got something done in spite of wind, 
• # 
blowing sand and broken clouds; 
/ « 
Saw my first specimen on the island of D. nigripes with the full white 
rump and crissum such as I saw from the ship., so assume it is merely a phase 
nronosision which chances to be rarer on Laysan than elsewhere 3 to judge by 
the relative abundance of the bicolor type seen at sea. Or it may be a matter 
of extreme age^ but certainly not a matter of mere maturity as stated in 
« 
Bailey 3 & • • 3 no doubt 3 in Ridgeway. 
