XOVEJtBEE 12, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



669 



fomia condors, Gymnogyps californianus 

 (Shaw), one just shedding the last of its natal 

 down while the other, at the age of three years, 

 has just acquired the fully adult head colors 

 and gular swelling; black cockatoo, Calyptor- 

 hynchus hanksi (Lath); satin bower bird, 

 Ptilonorhynchus violaceus (Vieill) ; and 

 sacred ibis, Ihis wthiopica (Lath). A pair of 

 ocellated turkeys, Agriocharis ocellata (Curv.)> 

 just acquiring adult plumage and coloring is 

 perhaps the rarest species in the entire col- 

 lection. 



The series of American warblers is as com- 

 plete as ever, and an excellent beginning has 

 been made on the birds of our western deserts, 

 as the following list will show: phainopepla, 

 ptUogonys, white-rumped shrike, western blue 

 grosbeak, pyrrhulosia, house finch, western 

 lark sparrow, lark bunting, gambel sparrow, 

 western vesper sparrow, Abert desert towhee, 

 dickcissel, dwarf and red-eyed cowbirds, Sono- 

 ran redwing, Texas meadowlark, great-tailed 

 grackle, Rio Grande green jay, besides many 

 larger forms such as sealed quail, roadrunner, 

 etc. C. WiLLLiii Beebe, 



Curator of Ornithology 



IXTERXATIoyAL COXFEREXCE OX THE 

 1:1,000,000 ilAP OF THE WORLD 



At the Fifth International Geographical 

 Congress at Bern, in 1S91, Professor Albreeht 

 Penck first proposed that the enlightened na- 

 tions who were engaged in making maps of 

 their own territories and of other countries 

 should unite upon a common plan for the exe- 

 cution of a general map of the world. He 

 suggested that the scale of the map should be 

 1 : 1,000,000, or about 16 miles to the inch, and 

 that the separate sheets of the map should be 

 so bounded by meridians and parallels that 

 any one sheet would match any other except 

 for distortion of projection, no matter by what 

 country either sheet might be made. This 

 proposal led to resolutions and discussions at 

 successive geographic congresses and to sev- 

 eral tentative maps made by Germany, France, 

 England and the United States as essays 

 toward the general plan. 



At the ninth congress at Geneva in July, 



190S, a resolution was presented by Mr. Henry 

 Gannett, of the U. S. Geological Survey, with 

 a view to the formation of an international 

 committee to which should be entrusted the 

 details of arrangement which should lead to 

 more definite cooperation in the preparation 

 of the world map. Following the adoption of 

 that resolution and the recommendations of 

 the committee at Geneva, the British govern- 

 ment has recently sent out invitations to 

 Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, 

 Japan, Eussia, Spain and the United States, 

 for a meeting of the committee in London on 

 November 16, to proceed with the standardiza- 

 tion of the international map on the scale of 

 1:1,000,000. The British delegates will con- 

 sist of representatives of Great Britain, Can- 

 ada, Australia and India. At this conference 

 the various details essential to an agreement 

 on the preparation of a uniform map will be 

 discussed and it is hoped adjusted. 



The United States Geological Survey has 

 for some time past been engaged in compiling 

 maps of portions of the United States on the 

 1 : 1,000,000 scale and in accordance with a 

 plan which is believed to embody the principal 

 features on which agreement with other na- 

 tions is expected. 



In view of the interest which it thus has in 

 the results of this conference, Messrs. Bailey 

 Willis and S. J. Kubel, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, have been instructed to proceed to 

 London as representatives of the United 

 States. 



IIR. KEXXEDY'S BEQUESTS 

 By the wUl of John Stewart Kennedy, the 

 banker of Xew York City, who died on October 

 31, in his eightieth year, bequests are made 

 for public purposes amounting to nearly $30,- 

 000,000. Seven of the bequests are of $2,225,- 

 000 each, and are, respectively, for Columbia 

 University, the Xew York Public Library, the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Presbyterian 

 Hospital in Xew York City, and to three 

 of the boards of the Presbyterian Church. 

 Bequests of $1,500,000 are made to Robert 

 College, Constantinople, and to the United 

 Charities of New York. Bequests of $750,000 



