6542 Lime Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada.
Febr. 4/53
Dear Dr. Harrison: I am afraid that I have fallen down very badly in my promise to buy & send you some of the articles prepared for
relaxing + mounting for your bird gallery my excuse is that I have been laid up since mid Dec. Only today have I had
the opportunity of examining the birds listed in your letter of January 8th. Those specimins arrived safely & also
included a [ILLEGIBLE]. I am very pleased to have these - many thanks.
I sincerely trust that you and the members of your family have safely escaped the devestating flood and storms which
parts of England have experienced. We are all so sorry & grieved for the great loss of life & for all the suffering &
hardships being endured by the survivors [ILLEGIBLE] in England & the Low Countries.
I now have the following specimens for you T Pintail in eclipse, [ILLEGIBLE], both those were collected by one of my
students & [ILLEGIBLE] have been degreased. They are only rough skins & not made up, however they can easily be
relaxed. As I do not know your methods of relaxing, They suggest that these two skins be soaked for 24 hours in waterwarmed first, then put in a bottle of lightest white gasoline in which has been added one table spoonful of turpentine to
[ILLEGIBLE] of gas for an hour or two. Then place skins in fine hardwood sawdust & [ILLEGIBLE] gently with the
feathers, shake out surplus & blow with reversed vacuum cleaner or hair drier. I will also include some Redpoll & some
other of your desiderata. The Redpoll I made up while still in bed & they may not be quite as nice as they should be.
In your letter of Aug. 4th/52 you ask if I should like an example of Buteo a. bates. Yes, I will be very glad & an adult
perhaps you would like one of our race & so will keep the first one that comes along.
You mention have received a visit from sir John Williams. While I have not meet the gentleman personally I have had
considerable correspondence with him & some exchange of specimens. May I enquire if you have done any exchanging
with him & if the transactions were satisfactory. At first mine were, but lately very much not so.

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If you have a spare [ILLEGIBLE] Forked-tailed Petrel I would be glad of one.
I will make up a box of specimens for you as soon as I am able to go down to the bird room. Which will be very soon.
I have been delighted to see the new British Postage stamps bearing the portrait of the young Queen. They are lovely &
I look forward to the new issues to add beauty to my stamp collection.
Thank you for the name + address of your publisher. I will write to them [ILLEGIBLE].
Kind regards, to you and all
Very sincerely yours
Kenneth Racey

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