3o6 proceedings: biological society 



in one instance eight had died in one house during one week of Decem- 

 ber, 19 1 9. The principal bird facts of the paper will be published in 

 the Auk. 



605TH meeting 



The 605th regular meeting was held in the lecture hall of the Cosmos 

 Club on January 24, 1920. President Hopkins was in the chair and 

 85 persons were present. On recommendation of the Council the fol- 

 lowing were elected to membership : J. S. GuTSELL, Bureau of Fisheries ; 

 R. W. Williams, Department of Agriculture; A. H. Hardisty, Bio- 

 logical Survey. 



Under the heading of Informal comnninicaiions , Dr. Barton W. 

 Evermann, former president of the Society and Director of the Mu- 

 seum of the California Academy of Sciences, stated that an aquarium, 

 which had been greatly needed, had been provided for at the IMuseum, 

 by a gift of $250,000. Several habitat groups had been installed in 

 the Museum, such as that of the Roosevelt Elk and the White Pelican. 

 The White Pelican had an extensive breeding establishment upon 

 Arabo Island, Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Their number is about 10,000. 

 The assumption that these pelicans ate many valuable fish caused 

 considerable destruction of them, but the situation was saved by 

 showing that their food was chiefly suckers and chubs. Dr. Evermann 

 showed a reel of moving pictures illustrating the breeding grounds 

 and the environment of the pelican in Pyramid Lake, the young, their 

 feeding, and the adult. There were also included in the films pictures 

 of California Gulls, Duck Hawks, and Cormorants, which are found 

 at this lake. 



Later in the evening Air. Bailey discussed the paper and Mr. Ernest 

 Thompson Seton made the observation that in Yellowstone Park a 

 campaign was waged against the pelicans there on the ground that they 

 ate valuable fish. It developed that the pelicans ate only diseased 

 fish, a fact which led to their protection. 



Regular Program 



Ernest Thompson Seton : The habitat and home life of the Kangaroo 

 Rats of our Western Desert {illustrated) . 



Mr. Seton's studies were made in the Mojave Desert, typical of the 

 western deserts; a level stretch dotted with sage bush with an occa- 

 sional outstanding yucca and a rim of blue mountains tipped here 

 and there with a store of snow. Although it is the dryest region in the 

 LTnited States, there is an astonishing amount of animal life, not always, 

 however, in evidence. It is at night that from every bush its animal 

 tenant emerges, leaving its trail or other record. Some 30 species were 

 mentioned. Attention was given to the Kangaroo Rat, a large species, 

 rather scattered and rare, yet should the census of the area 100 feet 

 square which was intensively studied, hold for the area over which 

 the Kangaroo Rat lives, there would be 750,000,000 of them. 



