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- About midnight we turned in bed on the ship. Problem of
finding the beds under so much baggage. At 1:30 am awakened
to find we were about to be unloaded. Finally off. [illegible words]
Bussey's in grassy clearing. Paul Joslin [illegible word] fast [illegible word]
Wed. [Wednesday] May 18 [1960]
Chilly damp night. Up by 6:15 pushed off. Clouds hanging
low over the harbour. Drove past Skidegate Mission (has a gas
station!) for breakfast of mush. Few hundred old squaws [illegible word]
in lake, 40 - 50 Red wing [word crossed out] Crossbills around car, ad. [adult] [male symbol] 1:5 [ratio]. Bald
Eagle (begun CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] TV [television] on it) - Violet green [words crossed out] Tree Swallows, Orange -
Crowned Warbler, Ch. [Chestnut] b. [backed] chickadee, flicker, many robins
Clearings frequent along the road. Other [illegible word] in clearing
We searched about for bats (not very suitable), found slugs + other
inverts [invertebrates] under boards[?]. Near Miller Creek heard squirrels - shot
two. Bussey was right! Plenty of squirrels in the mossy
spruce Hemlock forest.
At Tlell River cleaned the car, skinned the squirrels
tried fishing (no luck), met old cook, Wallace Olsen who let us
use his garage near the bridge as headquarters. Has 16 white
rabbits - considering releasing some! (but didn't 7/9/60 [1960])
Set our traps, total of 168 mouse, 4 rat, 24 bucket.
Habitat dry, though heavy moss. Hermit + [illegible word Swainson's?] thrushes
singing at dusk. Seen total of 6 B. [bald] Eagles so far - all
adults. Kingfishers scarce
Bed by 12
Bugs fierce here!
Thurs [Thursday] May 19 [1960] (3) [circled]
Up by 6:30 to check traps. Spent morning skinning the
six adult Peris [Peromyscus?]. No other spp [species] in traps. Trout for breakfast
Changed LR [Land Rover]'s old filter (48,000 mi [miles]). Intermittant rain,
but caught 3 trout 8" [inches]. With skinning finally completed (Paul [Joslin]
slow, but does a good job - Olsen picked his specimens as best)
left Tlell.
Drove north, area slightly rolling, cedar + some fir on
lower wetland, jackpine, alder on high. No sign of deer
or grazing [word crossed out] browsing on cedar. At Pt [Port] Clements did some shopping [star symbol]
the inland sea at this spot is large + choppy. Eleven
miles north, country more rolling, road twistier, forest hemmed?]
in. Opposite Boulton Lake river crossed road + have set
our traps along a beautiful, meandering, tea coloured, stream
running thru [through] mossy cedar + fir. At helicopter ramp
met foreman Jack Galliger [Gallagher?], pilot Brian. Invited in for supper
Had a hearty meal with seisomographic crew. $160,000 helicopter
machine, $250/hr [hour] to rent. Guess its out of our book!
After supper drove back to creek for the night. No insects
chasing us here. Picked up some 2" [inch] white slugs (Movies of)
About midnight heard a Gt. [great] H. [horned] Owl, turns out to be
new species for island.
Friday May 20 [1960]
Owl still hooting as checked traps. R. [red] Crossbills, Sapsucker, +
Creeper along mossy riverside. Surprisingly few in traps
considering all the holes. Nil in 21 in J. [Jack] Pine meadow.
All peri [Peromyscus?] here adults (but 1) + less than 20 gms [grams]
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