muiTrn ctatfc nrpap tmitnt nsr AADirniTUPr 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
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ADDRESS REPLY TO 
CHIEF, BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY, 
and rltfer to 0cto"b6r 13 f 1920. 
BI-SZ 
Dr# Alex: Wetmore, 
c/o Consul General of the United States, 
Calle lavalle 341, 
Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
. k 
Dear Dr. Wet mo re: 
Your letter of August 27 recently received contains 
a very.interesting account of conditions as you have teen 
finding them. I was not aware that cactuses occur so far 
south in South America. Your reference to Palo Verde trees 
and to Acacias Brings up visions of tropical landscapes. 
Quebracho is a name which I "believe has been applied to various 
trees in tropical America, the meaning, of course, being that 
they are so hard that one’s ax is broken in chopping them. 
Your descriptions indicate, however, much that is distinctive 
and very different from anything I have ever seen. 
I note your discovery that in the male of Ortalis 
canicollis the trachea makes a loop over the breast before enter¬ 
ing the thorax, while in the female the windpipe is straight. This 
is an interesting point if it has not been previously recorded. 
Since you mention it, I think I have noticed the same peculiarity 
in skinning Mexican species of this genus, but it had not occurred 
to me that it might not be a well-known condition. Possibly it is; 
I have not looked it up, but at any rate it is probably associated 
with the development of the voice in these birds. 
You will doubtless be able to secure much information re¬ 
garding the destruction of birds for plumes by the natives. The 
trip you mention lacking time for taking with the Tobas on an 
expedition to the heronry several days travel away would have been 
an interesting as well as an enlightening experience. 
I note your reference to the arrival of the first Solitary 
Sandpiper on August 24, and that the specimen secured appeared to 
be the eastern subspecies. I shall look forward to receiving your 
next letter in which I shall look for more references to the arrival 
of migratory birds with much interest. 
Your statement that your hotel bill is $100.00 per day, and 
that shot gun shells cost $60.00 a box, and that you think nothing of 
paying $18.00 for a bottle of ink, sounds rather appalling without 
your qualifying statements. In spite of these high figures I judge 
