1 64 



THE CONDOR 



Vol. IX 



all its price must be years of hard work and 

 frequent disappointment. The condition of 

 the flower market, and the difficulty thru lack 

 of adequate communication facilities, of success- 

 fully competing with florists better situated 

 than himself, told Mr. Childs that if he were to 

 succeed, he must pursue an entirely original 

 policy. Advertising at that time was in its 

 youth and very few men had even a fair con- 

 ception of its value. Mr. Childs was among 

 the few. Commencing to advertise in a small 

 way in a number of periodicals whose circula- 

 tion would be likely to reach the people he 

 desired to serve, he gradually increased his 

 patronage as his trade increased, later com- 

 mencing to issue a catalogue of his own. 

 Today the number of catalogues which leave 

 Floral Park each year is well over a million, 

 and Mr. Childs' products are sent to nearly 

 every important country in the world, an 

 especially large trade being done with Australia 

 and New Zealand. These catalogues are printed 

 at Floral Park at the plant of the Mayflower 

 Publishing Company, of which Mr. Childs is 

 president. When this company was founded 

 in 1892 one small press was its capacity; today 

 it has a large web, three cylinder, and three 

 job presses, owns its own electrotyping plant, 

 publishes a local weekly, and employs a total 

 of sixty hands. 



"Of the products of Floral Park themselves 

 little need be said, for their reputation is uni- 

 versal. Mr. Childs has always striven to attain 

 the best results possible to a florist who thoroly 

 understands the science of his art, and a very 

 large number of the most popular plants on the 

 market today were originated by him. As a 

 real estate operator Mr. Childs has also been 

 unusually successful, having engineered a 

 number of very profitable deals. At the pres- 

 ent time he owns, besides his 300 acres at 

 Floral Park, over 600 acres at St. James. In 

 political life also Mr, Childs has long been a 

 prominent figure. 



"But it is as a naturalist, perhaps, more than 

 as anything else that Mr. Childs is well known. 

 In the first place he has one of the finest 

 private libraries in the world of North Ameri- 

 can natural history. It includes Audubon's 

 original work, Birds of America, as well as 

 other rarities. Mr. Childs also possesses the 

 largest private collection of mounted North 

 American birds extant, together with their 

 nests and eggs, and has besides a collection of 

 shells, insects, and minerals." 



The ornithological collection alone now 

 numbers about 1 1 10 species and subspecies of 

 North American Birds, and some 1030 species 

 of eggs in full sets, many of them with nests 

 m situ. 



Mr. Childs has recently become financially 

 interested in southern California, and his visits 



to this coast are becoming frequent. We think 

 we have grounds for the expectation that he 

 will ultimately build a home here, and pos- 

 sibly establish his museum in this climate, 

 where collections are so little bothered by 

 mold and other museum pests. 



The diminutive winter wren has worn the 

 generic titles of Troglodytes, Anorthura and 

 Olbiorchilus successively on the A. O. U. List- 

 during the past ten years. And now it is to 

 moult again, so Dr. Allen and Mr. Stone both 

 tell us. The latest exhumed name for the 

 bird is Nannus. This name is brief, like the 

 bird, and means a dwarf; therefore appropriate, 

 and an improvement over any of the others. 

 Long may it wave! 



It seems that the "possessives" are not yet 

 exhausted as a subject for logical argu- 

 ment. Mr. Henderson's communication in 

 this issue certainly presents his views as to the 

 correct usage in a convincing manner. Per- 

 haps Mr. Dawson could knock them under, tho! 



Messrs. Frank M. Chapman and Louis Agas- 

 siz Fuertes spent the earlier portion of the sum- 

 mer in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. They 

 made base camp at timberline, from which 

 they were able to make intimate studies of 

 such alpine-arctic species as the Leucosticte, 

 Pipit and White-tailed Ptarmigan. 



We are glad to announce that after some- 

 thing more than a year spent in Colorado and 

 New Mexico, Mr. and Mrs. M. French Gilman 

 have returned to their home at Banning, Cali- 

 fornia. Mr. Gilman will now have more 

 leisure for bird stud}^, and expects to re-visit 

 the Colorado Desert and adjacent mountain 

 ranges with the purpose of tracing the distri- 

 bution of certain birds and mammals. 



Mr. Murray Watson, M. C. O. C, has re- 

 moved from California, and taken up his resi- 

 dence in Denver, Colorado. That is getting to 

 be a pretty lively center for bird workers of 

 late. 



Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Bailey, of Washington, 

 D. C, have been spending the summer in 

 Biological Survey work in southern California. 



Mr. Henry B. Kaeding is visiting California 

 again after an extended sojourn in Sinaloa, 

 Mexico. 



Dr. T. S. Palmer, of the Biological Surve}', 

 visited Los Angeles in the earl}' part of Septem- 

 ber. His mission was to obtain evidence con- 

 victing certain parties of elk-poaching in the 

 Yellowstone National Park. Dr. Palmer is 

 doing a valuable work in prosecuting special 

 cases of game-law infringement, thus showing 

 local wardens what can and should be done in 

 that line. The Survey merits every possible 



