AIRMAIL 
March 25, 19 
Fred Sibley and Roger Clapp 
Smithsonian Party 
USS Lipan (ATF 85 ) 
FPO, San Francisco, California 
Dear Fred and Roger: 
In reply to your recent letter let me say right off that comments 
on Dropping subjects are more than welcome, be they pro or con. That 
some system of regular communication between Washington and field desks 
be carried out on longer-range subjects than problems of the moment is 
desirable and Droppings is supposed to fill this need. So in this 
context your thoughts are doubly desirable. I am glad you wrote. 
If I interpret your letter correctly, your main objection is to 
the fact that the Bird. Guide to the Central Pacific is being undertaken 
by a man who has had no field experience in the Pacific and who you 
assume is going to rely too heavily upon published accounts, or in 
your words may tend "to compound, inaccuracy and repeat error." 
Be assured that we are fully aware of the pitfalls in this project 
and further that this undertalcing is essentially by the Pacific Project 
staff and not by one man. As in preparing the two preliminary reports, 
Mr. Dennis is only one of many workers. However with field men coming 
and going (and it seems impossible to keep the best field men here for 
long periods), someone has to be here to give our work continuity. 
Mr. Dennis is eminently qualified for this kind of work. He himself 
is as anxious as anyone to become personally familiar with the birds 
and field conditions of the central Pacific. It is hoped that he can 
be spared long enough at least to become familiar with a few of the 
island breeding colonies. 
Work on the Bird Guide lias been preceded by long and painstaking 
research by Mr. Gorman Bond whose sole task over a many months period 
was literature research and the preparation of the punch cards, as 
you know. We are aware that many erroneous records have been included 
in this system, in fact certain species will be placed in hypothetical 
categories, this alerting field party members to the possibility that 
there is a chance cf occurrence. 
