Mar., 1908 



A NEW MUSEUM 



95 



THE CONDOR 



An lUxiStrated Magazine 

 of "Western OrnitKology 



Published Bi-Monthly by the Cooper Ornithologi- 

 cal Club of California. 



JOSEPH GRINNELL, Editor, - PssLSsvdenaL 



J. EUGENE LAW, Business Manager, Hollywood, Cal. 



WILLIAM L. FINLEY \ . .^. p ... „ 

 ROBERT B. ROCKWELL I A"""'"**' ^'*'*°" 



Hollywood, California: Published Mar. 20, 1908 



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A NEW MUSEUM 



There is shortly to be inaugurated at the 

 University of California a new line of work, 

 which will mean increased activity in the ex- 

 ploitation of California ornithology. Miss 

 Annie M. Alexander, of Oakland, an aluiunus 

 of the University, has expressed her interest 

 in the field of science, by providing means for 

 the support for a period of years of a Univer- 

 sity department to be called the California 

 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. While this broad 

 title has been adopted, so as to give room for 

 future expansion, the immediate activities of 

 those engaged in the work of the Museum will 

 be concerned with mammals, birds and reptiles. 

 It is proposed to have at least one party con- 

 tinually in the field thruout the year. The ob- 

 jects will be not only the accumulation of 

 specimens from our vertebrate faunae, but also 

 the gathering of data on life histories, habits, 

 and distribution, together with special ecologi- 

 cal studies of certain localities. Miss Alex- 

 ander will herself take active part in the field 

 work, and there will be at least two others 

 whose entire time will be devoted to the Mu- 

 seum's interests. The collections will be gath- 

 ered with a view to providing research material 

 of the best quality, accompanied by accurate 

 information as to the natural conditions under 

 which the species concerned were living. An 

 additional feature of the new Museum will be 

 the installation of several mounted groups of 

 our native large mammals. It is also planneil 

 to secure material for some exhibition groups 

 of certain birds and smaller mammals arranged 

 to show typical associations from different 



faunal areas. A building provided by the Uni- 

 versity is being planned especially for the Mu- 

 seum, and will be completed during the com- 

 ing summer. Meanwhile preparations are in 

 progress for active field work during the 

 spring. — J. G. 



THE REHABILITATION OF THE CA1.1- 

 FORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The income building and nutseum building 

 of the Academy and most of their contents 

 burned about noon, April 18, 1906. 



All of the records of the Academy, many of 

 the insect, plant, and reptile types, a few 

 books, and two bird specimens (the types of 

 the Guadalupe Petrel) were saved. A number 

 of uninjured ethnological specimens were 

 taken from the ruins after the fire. 



The restoration began without delay. On 

 the 29th of April, 1906, the first office was se- 

 cured at 1806 Post Street. Here the work of 

 soliciting donations from the learned societies 

 of the world was begun. American societies 

 and several foreign, British Museum, Zoologi- 

 cal Society of London, etc., were written to 

 directly by the Academy. The Smithsonian 

 Institution kindly volunteered to take up the 

 burden of corresponding with other foreign 

 societies. As a result of all of this work the 

 Academy nov/ has thru gifts over ten thousand 

 volumes on natural history. 



The Academy moved into its present tem- 

 porary quarters on Gough Street, near Sacra- 

 mento, on June 1, 1906. About this time the 

 first donation to the ornithological collection 

 was received; viz., a Yellow-billed Tropic Bird, 

 the gift of Mr. H. W. Henshaw of the Biologi- 

 cal Survey, who had overlooked it when dis- 

 posing of his collection some years ago. x\fter 

 a ten years stay in the Hawaiian Islands he re- 

 turned to Washington, where he found 'this 

 bird among his belongings, and presented it to 

 the x\cademy, stating in his letter that he felt 

 that it was ' 'the beginning of a great collec- 

 tion". 



The Galapagos Expedition put the Academy 

 "on its feet" as far as material for a new mu- 

 seum is concerned. This Eixpedition left San 

 Francisco on June 28, 1905, returning Thanks- 

 giving Day, 1906, with some 5000 reptiles, 

 38000 shells, 1000 tertiary invertebrate fossils, 

 about 13000 insects, about 10000 plants, 8688 

 birds, about 2000 eggs, many nests, and about 

 120 mammals. 



The first paper on the results of the Gala- 

 pagos Expedition, and also the first since the 

 fire, was issued December 20, 1907, and des- 

 cribed four new tortoises. The last paper pub- 

 lished by the Academy before the fire was is- 

 sued in March, 1906. 



During the past year specimens as well as 

 books have cotue in steadily. Dr. J. C. Thomp- 

 son, U. S. N., has sent in large collections of 

 Philippine reptiles and insects, making the 

 Academy's collection of the former second to 

 none. Mr. Anderson, Curator of Invertebrate 

 Paleontology, has secured for the Academy 

 large numbers of Pacific Coast invertebrate fos- 

 sils and shells. Mr. R. H. Beck, chief field 



