November 14, 1956 
Mr. H. L. Peck 
Tonosi, Prov. de Los Santos 
Panama 
Dear Mr. Pecks 
I have been delimited recently to receive a letter from Dr. Thomas 
H, Howell at Los Angeles, forwarding yours of October 19. It is very 
kind of you to extend so cordial an invitation to me, and I look lorward 
to meeting you and your daughter Helen, and to a view of the birdlife 
of the Tonosi Valley. 
For the past ten years I have worked in Panama in connection with a 
long-term project for a book on the birdlife of the entire republic. In 
th® course of this I have worked across from eastern Darien to the Costa 
Rican border in Chiriqul, and have assembled much information and a very 
good collection of specimens. In my field studies I have been covering 
so far as possible areas that have not been worked by others. Among one 
places for which we have no information on the birdlife the Tonosi Valley 
is one of the important ones remaining. In 1948 I was located for two 
months in Parita and covered the eastern side of the Asuero Peninsula 
from the Rio Santa Maria down to Punta Mala. During the dry season in 
the early part of this year I had a distant view of the Tonosi Valley 
from the sea in a journey to and from Coiba Island where I lived for five 
weeks. 
While I have been in Banara£ during the rains at various times, I 
appreciate fully what you say relative to roads and trails. We plan to 
come south this year immediately after Christmas and to be in the field 
until April. In addition to Tonosi, I am planning some work on the Rio 
Mandinga on the edge of the San Bias country, and at least one other 
point. I will have to make up my schedule a little later when I have the 
information relative to the other places, but will let you and your daughv 
know well in advance our definite schedule. 
Mrs. Wetmore accompanies me in field work and in the usual operation 
we have a little house or camp which is her province while I am engaged 
with collecting, notes, and preparation of specimens. I also have as 
assistant one of the sons of Luis Hartmann of Chiriquf who has been my. 
helper for three seasons. As there will be three o/us, I am afraid this 
will be crowding your hospitality, and possibly we can arrange to secure 
a small house in Tonosi or nearby for the period of our stay. We wouxd 
