5 10 So O42} 5:

Another possibility for early season activity would be along
the coast just north of your station hh. The U. S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey has a party doing work in that area, and if
it is possible to land a plane in the vicinity of their camp,
you might elect to work in that area prior to the opening of
the bush flying season, which will occur some time in late
June or early July.

The schedule suggested in my letter of April 21st by no means
meant that you must spend 54 days at Point Barrow, for I had
not allowed for the counting of the time prior to July lst,
since I had no intimation prior to the arrival of your letter
that you would arrive so early in June. The other suggestion
concerning Wainwright was made with no intention of compulsion,
for if Wainwright is not a suitable place for your field work,
there is no need for you to spend time at that area.

Early in the winter Dr. Hall had indicated the desirability of
having a 60 gauge shotgun fitted with an auxiliary barrel for
the use of .410 gauge shells. He gave me the name of the
Greitz Gunsmith Shop in Topeka as an outfit that could supply
the auxiliary barrel. A letter of inquiry was addressed to
Mr, Creitz on the 29th of March, and we received a reply from
him in yesterday's mail. He is unwilling to attempt to make
the auxiliary barrel unless the gun in which it is to be used
is sent to him, so that proper fit will be assured.

Owing to his long delay in answering my inquiry, it is now
impossible to get the gun to him in time to have the auxiliary
barrel made and returned prior to your arrival in Alaska. It
will take him 40 days to make the barrel after the gun arrives
in his shop, with additional time required for the return of
the gun.

We have one double barrel 16 gauge shotgun, one single barrel

20 gauge, and a Mossberg bolt action 3-shot 410 gauge shot-
gun. If you can utilize a combination of any two of these

puns, the laboratory will be willing to supply them to you
during the collecting season. Such weapons of course are
checked out to the individual and he is responsible and account-
able for the proper care and return to the laboratory at the

end of the season.

If you feel that the combination of, for example, the 16 gauge
and the .j10 repeating shotgun is more cumbersome than you _
eare to use in the field, the only alternative that I can see
would be for you to bring a gun which meets your needs from
the Natural History Museum. I hope that this necessary change
in the plan for small arms will not greatly inconvenience you.