Wetmore A. The birds of the Republic of Panama. Volume IV. Passeriformes. Hirundiidae (Swallows) to Fringillidae (Finches)

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1984. — 692 p.As with so many ambitious works in ornithology, Alexander Wetmore's Birds of the Republic of Panama unfortunately required more
than a lifetime to complete. Those of us around the Division of Birds who were privileged to work with Dr. Wetmore could only hope that he would live to see his magnum opus finished, but even his indefatigable constitution inevitably gave way to the attrition of time. He was 86 years old in 1972, when Part 3 appeared, and it is a tribute to his endurance that he proceeded as far with the manuscript for Part 4 as he did. When his health failed, he had prepared accounts for almost all of the "ten-primaried oscines." Alexander Wetmore died at his home on December 7, 1978, at the age of 92 after a long illness.
Dr. Wetmore's colleague and friend of long standing, S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, approached me, when it became certain that Dr. Wetmore would be unable to continue his studies, to inquire into the feasibility of completing Part 4 of Birds of the Republic of Panama. I agreed to be responsible for the identification of specimens and for systematic decisions, provided someone else could be found to compile the species accounts and descriptions that remained to be done. Happily for all concerned, we were able to enlist the services of Mr. Roger F. Pasquier, who has attended this task with determination and assiduity.