May, 1908 



EDITORIAL NOTES 



131 



THE CONDOR 



J\.n. Illvjstrated Magazine 

 of "Western OrnitKology 



Published Bi-Monthly by the Cooper Ornithologi- 

 cal Club of CaliforniaL 



JOSEPH GRINNELL, Editor, - PaLsa^dena. 



J. EVGENE LAW, Business Manager. Hollywood, C&l. 

 WILLIAM L. FINLEY 



ROBERT B. ROCKWELL 



AssociaLte Editors 



Hollywood, California: Published May 22, 1908 



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EDITORIx\I, NOTES 



The present issue of The CondoR contains 

 but one illustration. This will please certain 

 of our constituents who deplore the expenditure 

 of our resources in cuts ! But perhaps others 

 of our readers will not be so well pleased. Pro- 

 vided our contributors supply us with good il- 

 lustrations we propose to continue them as a 

 feature of our magazine. The matter, therefore, 

 rests with those who are in a position to supply 

 the pictures. 



Wanted — someone to compile the 10-year In- 

 dex for The Condor. Remuneration, all the 

 honor and satisfaction attendant upon the com- 

 pletion of the undertaking. Anyone feeling 

 equal to the task, by reason of available time 

 and inclination, correspond with the Editor. 



The leading article in Cassinia for 1907 is by 

 Witmer Stone and narrates what has been 

 learned in regard to the life and accomplish- 

 ments of Adolphus h. Heermann, M. D. No 

 one of the early field naturalists of California 

 did more lasting work in ornithology than 

 Heermann. His papers, appearing in the Jour- 

 nal of the Philadelphia Academy, and in \^ol- 

 ume X of the Pacific Railroad Surveys, forni 

 our most reliable record of the ornis of the 

 State at the period of his explorations, 1849 to 

 1854. It will pay every student of western 

 birds to read Mr. Stone's biography of Heer- 

 mann. 



A new edition of Mrs. Bailey's Handbook of 

 Birds of the Western United States is announced 

 to appear early in the fall. 



Messrs. Finley and Bohlman left Portland 

 May 1 to make an ornithological tour of Eastern 

 Oregon. They go by auto, having adapted a 

 machine to the carrying of a camp outfit. Their 

 object is, of course, primarily bird photography. 

 Condor readers may look forward to seeing 

 some of the results in fiiture issues of our mag- 

 azine. 



The Birds of Washiiigton, announced two 

 years ago as having been undertaken by William 

 Leon Dawson and J. II. Bowles, is reported to 

 be well along towards completion. A lately in- 

 corporated feature, to be added to an ' 'Imperial 

 Edition, de grand Luxe", of the proposed work, 

 will be 16 original water color paintings of 

 Washington birds by Allan Brooks. The cost 

 of this edition will be $350.00 per copy. The 

 work of Allan Brooks is said by those compe- 

 tent to judge to be unexcelled by that of any 

 other bird artist in the world. 



We have just received a letter from Mr. 

 Robert Ridgway, dated ' 'San Jose, Costa Rica, 

 April 25, 1908." The following excerpts are of 

 general interest: "The projected trip to the 

 Cerro Turubales was abandoned, and we went 

 instead to Guayabo, at the eastern base of the 

 Volcan Turrialba, and thence to the lecheria at 

 the foot of the cinder zone. Here we spent 

 three miserable days on account of the cold and 

 constant rain. From the lecheria we ascended 

 to the crater, the climb requiring 3 hours and 

 10 minutes of very hard work; the descent was 

 made in 2 hours. On the summit I found only 

 one bird, Junco vnlcani; but a little further 

 down, in the chaparral, Selasplwriis flammula 

 and a Thryorchiliis were noted. In holes of 

 one of the cliffs of the crater a colony of Heini- 

 procne sotiaris were nesting, but how they man- 

 aged to stand the sulphur fumes I cannot un- 

 derstand. We got no specimens of this bird 

 because, in the first place, the cliff was on the 

 opposite and inaccessible sitle of the pit, a quar- 

 ter to half a mile distant; and in the second 

 place, any specimens shot (if that had been 

 possible) would have dropped at least 1000 feet 

 into the abyss where, of course, it would have 

 been the sheerest folly to attempt to go. 

 ' "We did fairly well at Guayabo, adding at 

 least two species (and genera) to the Costa 

 Rican list. ' ' Mr. Ridgway will shortly return 

 to Washington where he will resume work on 

 the Birds of A^orth and Middle America. 



The 1908 Alexander Expedition to southeas- 

 tern Alaska left San Francisco ]\Iay 18 to be 

 gone until October. The collectors in the party 

 are Miss Alexander, ]\Ir. Joseph Dixon and 

 Mr. Edmund Heller. As in 1907 the object of 

 the explorations will be the collection of mam- 

 mals and birds, and information concerning 

 their habits and distril:)ution. The material 

 obtained will Ije deposited in the new nutseum 

 at Berkeley. 



The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the 

 University of California was formally estab- 

 lished March 23, 1907. As announced in the 

 March issue of this magazine, this new institu- 

 tion has been founded thru the generosity of 



