UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
July 3, 1911. 
Mr. Alex . Wetraore, 
Una la ska , Ala ska . 
Dear Mr. Wetmore: 
Your letter of June 9 in relation to your work is re- 
ceived. Disappointing as it is in many respects, I can 
see that you have done the very best work possible and that 
it is in no wise your fault that you have so little time to 
spend on the objects of the expedition. I have no doubt 
* 
moreover that the results will fully justify sending you, 
though apparently they are by no means to equal our expecta- 
tions. 
I know how you must have felt on board ship when you 
saw a rare bird like Fisher's Petrel nearly within arms reach 
and yet be unable to secure a single specimen. Like you 
I have experimented in catching goonies but never succeeded 
in landing my bird on account of the speed at which the ship 
was going. 
I told Merriam about the scarcity of Microtus on Una la ska 
together with an abunde.no e of old sign, end he says this is 
quite characteristic of the islands. For some at present 
unknown reason they disappear on a given island almost entirely, 
but later on resume their normal numbers. Possibly such f lue - 
tuaticns in numbers are due to epidemics, which it is well known 
prevail among many rodents, or it may be due to the periodic 
abundance^ i their enemies, like hawks and owls. 
