UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
January IJ-:, 1912. 
Mr. Alex Wetmore 
Rio Piedras, Porto Rico 
Dear Mr. V/etii5ore: 
I was veri>- glad to receive and read your report of Jan- 
uary 1, containing, as it does, the assurance that you are 
already in the field and have made a good beginning of the 
work assigned you. 
I note what you say about the insect pests in cane 
fields. They are always diificult to deal with, since the 
cane fields are so entirely destitute of trees and bushes as 
to afford, as you note, little cover for birds. Since you 
state that the Porto Rican grackle is the most important of 
the bird enemies ol this group, it will be well for you to 
consider v/hether it is possible and desirable to increase 
the number of these birds in the cane fields, or in the dis- 
tricts adjoining the fields. This^is intima,tely connected 
with their nesting habits which no doubt you will have a 
chance to study. 
I am much interested in what you say about the abundance 
and cannot understand how these are abundant in lo- 
calities where mongoose are plentiful. In certain districts 
in the Hawaiian Islands v/here terrestrial lizards used to be 
very numerous the mongoose has almost entirely exterminated 
them. Are the lizards you refer to arboreal in habits? This 
