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During 1968, 65 members of the O.S.N.Z. patrolled a total of 1,188 miles of coast and found 4,716 dead seabirds of 49 species. A unique factor was the tropical cyclone in April, the effects of which around southern coasts of the North Island have been described elsewhere. There was an unusually protracted period of strong westerly winds from mid-September to end of November which was accompanied by an extensive wreck of short-tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris and several other species. Excluding April specimens, unusual birds were three storm-petrels (Wilson’s, Oceanites oceanicus; grey-backed, Garrodia nereis; black-bellied, Fregetta tropica), a sooty tern Sterna fuscata and two spine-tailed swifts Chaetura caudacuta.