II BROADWAY 
New York 4> N. Y. 
January 25, 1952 
Dr. Alexander Wetmore 
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution 
Washington 25, D.C. 
Dear Dr. Wetmore; 
I hope you’ll be able to clear up whether 
■til® Zonotrichia occurs on Taboga. After checking 
with the American Geographic Society’s map, I fear 
that in my last letter I somewhat overestimated the 
height of the island. Still the summit is not too 
m.uch lo7»er than the altitude at which the bird has 
already been found in Panama, and on islands there 
is sometimes a tendency for highland birds to occur 
at lower elevations, e.g., Curacao. 
Hov/ever it would be surprising if you found 
much else of ornithological interest on Taboga, at 
least as far as breeding species are concerned. I 
should think a day or two would be ample, for it is 
small and easy to get around in. There is commimi- 
cation with the mainland by public launch several 
times a day, and there are (except on festivals) 
ample living accommodations for visitors. 
By the way, may I thank you for sending me the 
Goldman book on Mexico. 
With best regards, I remain 
EE:tc 
P.S. There is another Taboga mystery relating to the 
hummingbird Chlorostilbon . A male from the Rothschild 
Collection marked ’’C. salvini ”. attributed to Taboga 
”1899 Rosenberg”, certainly has most of the maxilla as 
well as the mandible pale and dull tips to the rectrices. 
Another specimen from the same locality and collection is 
the expected assimllis . with wholly black bill and tail. 
I have seen the latter at Taboga and also some form of 
Amazilla edward . An unidentified Chaetura apparently breeds; 
at least I saw a pair near the bath houses on my one-day 
visit of July 5, 1951. 
