ieoupeeeas DoUEREO NAB Delil belt N 7 
hour’s time, not including a dead cow that we were aware of before we 
saw it.” 
The second letter is from Capt. Howard J. Murphy, to whom we offer 
our congratulations on his safe return to this country. We remember an 
earlier letter from the then Lieut. Murphy in which he told of various birds 
he had met in the Pacific islands, though he was not at that time permitted 
to more particularly identify his location. The following portions of his 
letter to Dr. Lewy show that he has been concerned with the real fighting 
in the South Pacific, but that he has not lost his interest in Nature. 
“Today I received the literature from the American Museum on birds. 
I’m sure it was mailed months ago.and it must have followed me all over 
the Pacific, for the envelope is covered with postmarks. However, the 
contents are even more pertinent now, for it includes many places I’ve 
visited in the South Pacific—New Hebrides, Samoa, Solomons, etc. 
“T returned to this country three months ago after a total of fifteen 
months on foreign duty. You realized I was on Midway when I described 
Laysan albatross 
all those birds. I stayed there for five months and then went to the South 
Pacific. 
“Of course, I joined in the scrap at Guadalcanal, and had a rather 
unique experience in the Solomons. A Jap destroyer shot me down two 
hundred miles from Henderson Field and I spent nine days on a Japanese 
occupied island, Choiseul. Lived with some friendly natives until rescued 
and, despite the intensity of the situation, had a good time. Unfortunately 
I contracted malaria on the eighth day and was quite ill when picked up. 
I’ve fully recovered from it, however. 
“T was thinking of your son when I visited Australia; we spent ten days 
in Sydney and stopped briefly in Brisbane. Also spent a month in New 
Zealand. 
“Collected a number of shells and became familiar with many varieties 
of birds and fish in the island area. Had several run-ins with moray eels 
