J 
BBU . - If 
Panama, R. de P, 
March ?, 1950 
Dear Dr. Metmore: 
It was most timely and thoughtful of you to instruct 
your secretary to send me a copy of the "Field Book of 
Birds of the Panama Canal Zone", by Bertha Bement Sturgis 
Mrs. Davis and I shall derive a great deal of benefit, 
pleasure and satisfaction from this publication, and we 
both thank you very much indeed for your thoughtfulness. 
I feel that your secretary, or the mail room at the 
Smithsonian Institution, may have misunderstood your in¬ 
structions and sent this book by air mail at a very high 
cost, when the ordinary mail would have brought it here 
with very little delay?. Even air mail express would not 
have been so great had the package been addressed to our 
Canal Zone post office box. I believe the rate is twice 
as great to Panama. 
Mrs. Davis and I hope you will not fail to cotae to 
see us when you return from your field work in Darien 
Province, and with renewed thanks for the bird book, I am 
Sincerely yours. 
£ 
Dr. Alexander Tfetmore, 
c/o Mr. James Zetek, 
Balboa, Canal Zone. 
