Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-08
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

BY Radio TO The Star and the New York
Times.
LITTLE AMERICA, Antarctica, Octo-
Der 8.-As soon as q break in the
weather comes and few warm days can
be expected the dog teams Of the first
party to 60 South, the supporting party,
will leave the base and start diff1cult
| journey over the upheaved bay ice,
which at some places has been forced
| nearly SO feet up to the barrier surface.
where their way will lie through two
badly crevasSed areas.
Sleds Are Being Packed.
They are all ready to go, but it has
been unusually cold this Spring and
the start will not be made until the
weather moderates enough so that the
dogs will not become exhausted. Sleds
are being packed and everything Is be-
ing brought together SO that there will
be as little delay as possible when
Comdr.' Byrd gives the word to begin
their long hike.
He has checked all their equipment
and satisfied himself that they have
everything they need and that sleds and
loads are efficiently arranged. While
the land parties are chaflng under the
cold-for it was 43 below last night,
which is much colder than when
Amundsen started his Polar journey on
the 19th-the work on the planes is
going ahead steadily. Today the snow
Is being shoveled away from around the
Fairchild and the wings being put back
in places, so that by dinner time the
welcome sight of plane ready to fly
will make real the fact that Summer
Is coming.
Planes Gear Frozen Firmly.
The plane was left with the landing
gear and skis in the hole, where they
have been all Winter, so firmly frozen
in that a storm would tear the wings
of the plane without moving the skis,
and such a storm Is not anticipated
here where wind velocities do not reach
the intensity experienced at the Rookie
Teller Mountains last Summer when the
Fokker was blown away. The engine
of the plane is tuned, the carburetor
has been taken out and adjusted and
cleaned, and If 1t becomes necessary at
any time to go to the assistance of the
dog teams, the plane Is all ready to fly.
Every one is anxious to see it in the
air again, but it will be weeks before
good flying weather can be expected.
This Is the season Of storms and sud-
den changes In weather conditions. the
season which compares with blustery
the wind busters 1t busters quickly
and with authority.
Birds Are Due Soon.
There are signs that the birds are
about to come back to us. Mike Thorne
saw the first one a few days ago when
he was out skiing along the edge of the
barrier. It was a petrol and, although
it was flying in the brilliant glare of
the sun, he thought 1t was an Antarctic
petrol, one of the first birds to come
back to this frozen land when the sun
returns. A day or so later Paul Siple
saw two or three petrels out near the
edge of the ice and a black object in
the water half mile away which he
though was too big to be a seal and
might have been a whale.
Baby seals are being born on the bay
ice near the big cracks and openings
in the pressure ridges. One only a day
old was found yesterday, a scrawny
little fellow about a yard long. with hair
dirty greyish brown. They are not
white like the Northern baby seals, for
there is no animal on the ice here like
the Polar bear against which protective
| coloration Is necessary.
For several days after they are born,