Jan., 1907 



EDITORIALS 



29 



THE CONDOR 



An Illustrated Magazine 

 of "Western OrnitKolog'y 



PublisKed Bi=Monthly by the Cooper Ornithologi- 

 cal Club of CaliforniaL 



JOSEPH GRINNELL. Editor. - Pa.sa.denaL 



H. T. CLIFTON, Business Manager. Box 404. Pasadena 



WILLIAM L. FINLEY ) . . ^ ^^.^ 



JOSEPH MAILLIAR.D j A"oc,i^te Editors 



Pasadena, California: Published Feb. 4, 1907 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



One Dollar per Year in the United States, Canada, 

 Mexico, and U. S. Colonies, payable in advance. 



Twenty Cents the single copy. 



One Dollar and a. Quarter per Year in all other conntries 

 in the International Postal Union. 



Claims for missnig or imperfect numbers should be 

 made within thirty days of date of issue. 



Subscriptions should be sent to the Business Manager. 



MaLnuscripts and Exchanges should be sent to the 

 Kditor. 



Advertising Rates on application. 



EDITORIALS 



Thru a series of unforeseen contingencies, 

 the second and third parts of Finle3''s condor 

 article will not appear until later in the 3^ear, 

 tho both will surely be run in our present vol- 

 ume. The delay, however, will be beneficial 

 in the long run; for it will enable Mr. Fi.iley to 

 further perfect the material on hand, and also 

 to gather additional data from outside sources. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Tee Cham- 

 bers, of vSanta Monica, has for several years 

 been accumulating information respecting the 

 California condor. A surprisingly large num- 

 ber of records have been authenticated, and the 

 literature of the subject thoroly overhauled. 

 Now that Mr. Finley has so good a foundation, 

 Mr. Chambers has very generously insisted 

 upon turning all the results of his own work 

 over to Finley, to be incorporated with the lat- 

 ter's "Life History." This will all appear in 

 due time in "The Condor." 



The California Academy of Science's ex- 

 pedition to the Galapagos Archipelago, which 

 left San Francisco June 28, 1905, returned 

 safely to the home port the first of December 

 last- All members of the party were in good 

 health, tho glad to get home. Mr. R. H. 

 Beck, who headed the expedition, considers 

 the collections obtained by far the most exten- 

 sive and complete of any that have ever been 

 taken from that group of islands. These large 

 quantities of material, in almost every branch 

 of natural history, await the work of specialists 

 before the actual scientific results become fully 

 known. 



The most important local record in our pres- 

 ent issue is the new one for the English spar- 

 row, which has at last made its appearance in 

 Los Angeles County. The approach of this in- 

 vader along the railroad lines from the north 

 has been slow but steady, and its ultimate es- 

 tablishment here has been expected for years. 

 It will now be interesting to see how the native 

 linnet fares in competition. Yet it will prob- 

 ably be several years before the pestiferous in- 

 terloper begins to affect our native bird fauna. 



Mr. R. C. McGregor calls our attention to the 

 following rich sample of popular ornithology 

 taken from a no less substantial current period- 

 ical than the Century Magazine (March, 1906, 

 page 788). 



"In the feathered world of the West there is 

 an analogous case of the utilization of the cac- 

 tus-plant for the protection of progeny. vSingu- 

 larly enough, though in a dr}' country, it is a 

 wading bird, one of the varieties of the curlew, 

 with a long bill and long slender legs, which, 

 like the antelope, uses the cactus as a home and 

 defense for her nest and young. 



"She will carry sticks in her long bill and 

 drop them in position as nearly as possible in 

 the center of a cactus-patch while hovering 

 over it. When she has accumulated enough, 

 alighting on the heap, she arranges her nest, 

 wherein she laj's four beautiful turquoise- 

 colored eggs about as large as those of a domes- 

 tic hen, and then comes and goes from her nest 

 at will, knowing that it cannot be molested." 



McGregor asks, "Did you ever hear of such 

 a stunt b}- a curlew? Does any curlew lay 

 'beautiful turquoise-colored eggs'?" //'i? would 

 like to know, too ! 



Mr. W. L. Finley was recenth' appointed 

 lecturer for the National Association of Audu- 

 bon vSocieties. He lectured in Baltimore, Chi- 

 cago, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, 

 vSt. Louis, St. Paul and other cities in the in- 

 terests of the Audubon work. During the 

 spring he will make a lecture tour thru 

 Oregon and Washington for the National As- 

 sociation. 



We are in receipt of a cordial letter from Dr. 

 D'Evelyn, the new president of the Cooper Or- 

 nithological Club. He enters upon his new 

 duties enthusiastically, and we trust that a new 

 era of activity will be inaugurated in the North- 

 ern Division of the Club, where interest in 

 birds has been rather feeble since the "quake." 

 Dr. D'Jvvelyn hints of certain plans for the 

 spread of the Club's influence, especialh' along 

 the lines of bird protection and educational 

 work. 



The Fish Comtnission steamer Albatross re- 

 turned to San Francisco, December 11, after a 

 very successful scientific cruise along the North 

 Pacific coast of Asia. Dr. C. H. Gilbert, of 

 Stanford Universit}-, was in charge of the work, 

 and Professor J. O. Snyder was one member of 

 the party. Marine forms of life were the chief 

 objects of interest, and vast quantities of speci- 

 mens were properly preserved. The fishes re- 

 ceived most attention, and these will be worked 



