Mar., 1907 



EDITORIALS 



61 



THE CONDOR 



j\i\ Illustrated Magazine 

 of ^^estern OrnitKology 



Published Bi=Monthly by the Cooper Ornithologi- 

 cal Club of CalifornisL 



JOSEPH GRINNELL, Editor, - PaLsa.dena. 



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



WILLIAM L. FINLEY ) 



JOSEPH MAILLIAILD / 



AssocisLte Editors 



Pasadena, California: Published Mar. 31, 1907 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



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 advance. 



Thirty Cents the s-ingle copy. 



One Dollar and Seventy-five Cents per Year in all other 

 countries in the International Postal I'nion 



Claims for niissins; or imperfect nnnibers shouUl be 

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Subscriptions should be sent to the Business Manager. 



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 Kditoi 



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EDITORIALS 



We have been frequently criticized of late for 

 three thing.s; namely: (i) For not using the 

 metric system exclusively thruout Thr Condor. 



(2) I^^or using amended spelling to the small 

 extent recommended by Roosevelt and others. 



(3) For not using a capital for the initial letter 

 of all vernactilar bird names, even where occur- 

 ring in the bod)- of a sentence. 



1. We have alwa3's been in the habit of 

 printing articles just as they are submitted to 

 us as far as unit of measurement employed is 

 concerned. Our esteemed fellow-member, 

 Henry B. Kaeding, now of vSinaloa, has been 

 particularly persistent in keeping us informed 

 of our inconsistencies in regard to this matter. 

 He urges us to adopt the metric system uni- 

 formly and exclusively. His arguments are 

 sane, and we are agreed with him on all but one 

 point: We would not want to work a hardship 

 on our readers, if a majority of these were used 

 to the Fnglis-h sj'stem and would find the metric 

 sj'Stem confusing. 



2. We are in receipt of the following terse 

 reply to a subscription notice sent out in January 

 of this year, and this from one of our oldest sub- 

 scribers: "When you spell like others, I will 

 renew my subscription, but I will never help 

 any publication which uses the form of spelling 

 you do; the only way to reform cranks is to let 

 them alone." The latter is our own sentiment 

 too! We are personallj' strongly in favor of 

 simplified spelling, consistently and authorita- 

 tively used. Our readers are surely familiar 

 with the arguments />rt> and con. 



3. It is claimed that a capital initial gives 

 the bird name a prominence in the text justifi- 



able because of its importance, and because it 

 makes the name easier to find in making up 

 indexes and in searching out references. On 

 the other hand the text looks to us typographi- 

 cally smoother, and easier to read. For instance, 

 "The habitat of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee 

 overlaps that of the mountain chickadee." 



jVow, ice propose to put these matters to a 

 vote of Cooper Club members, (i) Shall we 

 use the metric system exclusively in The 

 Condor? (2) vShall we continue to use the 

 authorized amended spelling? (3) Shall we 

 continue to use small initials for vernacular 

 bird-names occurring in the bodv of sentences? 



Write on a postal card "Yes" or "No," follow- 

 ing each numeral , however you wish to vote, 

 and address it at once to Edilor The Condor, 

 5j6 N. Marengo Ave., Pasadena, Calif. We 

 will govern ourselves in these regards in the 

 future according to the majority vote of those 

 Cooper Club members who are sufficientlv 

 interested to respond before Mav ist. The 

 Condor is a Club affair and should meet the 

 wishes of the Club. Results will be announced 

 in our May issue. 



We were alarmed and dismayed a month or 

 so ago by the appearance in local papers of a 

 dispatch from Washington to the effect that 

 the Bureau of Biological Survey was in danger 

 of being denied its j-early appropriation. 



President F. W. D'FA'elyn promptly tele- 

 graphed to Senator Perkins the Cooper Club's 

 views as to the great vahie of the Biological 

 Survey; and he has recently received a cordial 

 and favorable acknowledgement from the Sena- 

 tor. Doubtless scientific societies all over the 

 countrj' sent similar protests. P'or the loss of 

 the Survey wotild be felt in almost every 

 branch of science, tho in none more than in 

 ornithology. At any rate we are now partially 

 relieved by learning that the Survey's appro- 

 priation for the coming year was finally voted, 

 tho with a twenty per cent reduction. 



We cannot see wh}- such a narrow policy 

 should have received even a modicum of con- 

 sideration even in the name of extremest econ- 

 om}^ Let anyone who suspects extravagance 

 read the 1906 Report of PI. W. Ilenshaw, Act- 

 ing Chief of the Biological Survey, and see just 

 how the fifty-odd thousand dollars was ex- 

 pended. 



And as to the practical value of the Bureau's 

 work, it seems to us that no branch of the De- _ 

 partment of Agriculture could be canceled with 

 more loss to commercial interests than the 

 Biological Survey. 



Battleships, antequated in 'h\e years, ten 

 million dollars; a scientific and practical 

 bureau, appropriation fifty thousand, and this 

 threatened on the plea of economy! Is this 

 national progress in civilization? 



The collector who visits Arizona must now 

 provide himself with a permit. The following 

 in reply to a request for information on the 

 subject explains itself: 



"Recognized collectors for reputable colleges 

 who wish one or two specimens of each kind 

 of bird are charged a nominal fee— ^i. 00. Col- 

 lectors who are selling and shipping to every. 



