SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
WASHINGTON. D. C. 20560 
1? March, i 9^5 
Mr. Binion Amerson, Jr. 
Pacific Proiect 
Division of Birds 
Smithsonian Institution 
Washington D. C. 
7 > 
Dear Binion: 
Whv is it that the most important data was (or is) always 
obtained on a dev that was somehow fouled up? 16 March, 19^4 
was just such a day. In checking through the raw data T find 
that the Navy duplicated the IB March positions on a new sheet 
hut labeled t^em 16 Ma^ch. Actually moinrn b^ck to the A t - £ ^ a 
c n taloeoie of collected hinds T ^i n d that the^a was no local s tv 
listed for specimen 0613 . How did one <?et on t>e specimen? 
It seems that we have no hourly positions for IT March, 
«=i tid only two position fixes for thpt dav (Sunrise and 
Sunset) . T n rlottiner these positions on a chart and fi murinm 
the mi levs traveled am-ainst the time T find that the sh -1 r 
ave^arred about 10 knots re^ hour f or the dav. fince the bird 
was >shot two hours hefo-oe sunset 1 can mive you whet 
probably a. fairly accurate muess at its locality. t 
this position should not be more th^r 10 miles of p , 
position for specimen 0^11 is: 
i s 
feel that 
?0 P0 ! N x l£0 ?S'W 
We certainly will continue to inspect all bi^ds verv 
carefully for f icks etc. 
Best regards, 
P. J. Gould 
Research Curator 
Division of Birds 
Pacific Droiect 
P ,S. i he bird was shot at 1^B7 
hours vso von can double check this position on the 
Plotlnff sheets (cruise tract for March) which a^e 
or were near mv d^sk n the office. 
