November ,30, 1949 
Colonel Frank A. Pettit, 
Director, Inter American Geodetic Survey, 
United States Army Caribbean, 
Box 2031, Balboa Heights, Canal Zone. 
Dear Colonel Pettits 
Your communication of 16 November with accompanying enclosures 
has been most welcome since it has provided me with exactly the 
infomation that I need in considering plans for the field work that 
I have in view for the latter part of the coming dry season. I had 
in mind the Bayano Valley as one means of approach to the ’’Senanxa 
de Maje,” since I have been told that the Pacific side toward Caiman 
was inaccessible. Your data has cleared this completely and has 
given me exactly the leads I need. 
Briefly, after study of your maps and the data furnished, I expect 
now to plan to go to Chiman to establish a base there and from that 
point to work back into the mountains, using the trails that you state 
are accessible. For my work, 1 would want to make collections in the 
area adjacent to Chiman, then to move back to between 1,000 and 2,000 feet 
elevations into the mountains for further work and, from a camp located 
there, to continue on up into the higher elevations. I may say that 
the more interesting birds will probably be found 1,000 and 4,000 feet, 
possibly not above feet, depending upon the character of the 
forest growth. The area that naturalists term the subtropical zone 
is the one that has the greatest promise of unusual things. 
The type of work X do requires a fair amount of equipment avail¬ 
able, and what is necessary could be moved up to the lower camp without 
too much trouble, and lighter outfits would be taken higher up for 
trips of a week or so. 
The Cerro Chucanti seems to offer excellent opportunity and I 
believe also that Pechito Parroa from the map will be excellent. 
