UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
WASHINGTON, O. C. 
June 10,1912 
Mr. Alex Wetmore 
San Juan, Porto Rico 
Dear Mr. Wetmore: 
I have your very interesting report of June 2nd, sent from 
Maricao. This letter and many others you have written all tend 
to show that one of the most important steps towards the preser- 
vation of useful birds in Porto Rico is the education of the 
natives into their utility ^and the absolute necessity of refrairt- 
ing from destroying useful species and robbing their nests and 
eggs for food. This will be a not easy task and will require 
much time. 
The idea of making a bird census was well thou^t of and 
will form an interesting section of your report. By all means 
repeat the census in different sections that are likely -to dif- 
fer materially in the number of their avian inhabitants. 
I agree with you that the discovery of 55 species of breed- 
ing birds jCon^ri sing 390 individuals, in three hours, covering 
a little more than 4 miles, does not by any means indicate a 
scarcity of bird life. On the contraiy, it will compare extremely 
favorably with many ordinary sections of the United States. 
The plant louse you allude to is undoubtedly Aphis . These 
minute insects are everyv/here attended by ants, with a view to 
obtaining for them the so-called honey v/hich they secrete by 
special or^ns. These insects are everywhere mischievous and 
