208 



Tin{ CONDOR Voiv. X 



nished by Mr. Bryant who refused to publish that or any other record himself. Fortunately, 

 Bryant's notes, written on the tag of their specimen, have enabled Thayer and Bangs to kill my 

 erroneous record of Sclasphonis platycercus;. — Richard C. AIcOrK(;or, Bureau of Science, 

 Manila, P. I. 



Pipilo Clementae Excluded from Santa Cruz Island Avifauna. — After careful examina- 

 tion and comparison of measurements of a series of towhees from Santa Cruz Island, I am satis- . 

 fied that this form is Pipilo niaculalus megalonyx and not Pipilo clenientce, as heretofore sup- 

 posed. In the specimens from San Clemente Island there seems to be a slight difference in the 

 size of bill and feet. In coloration the difference is extremely slight, if any, compared with 

 Pipilo iiiaculatus megalonyx. However, my series from Clemente is too small to judge this 

 from. There is no doubt, however, that the form found on Santa Cruz Island is not Pipilo 

 cleiuentcr hwt P. in. n/egalonv-v.—C. B. lA^'iON, Long Bead/, California. 



A Plan For Co-operative Ornithology. —The progress which has been made in the study 

 of American Ornithology during the past fifteen years has been truly remarkable and it is 

 probably a safe assumption that nowhere else on earth has as much scientific knowledge been 

 gathered in so short a time. Yet notwithstanding this fact, not one work of any great magni- 

 tude has been undertaken, dealing with the life histories of North American Birds, since the 

 peerless Bendire completed the second volume of his "Life Histories," in 1895. 



During all the intervening time an army of Inrd lovers have been constantly at work col- 

 lecting a vast amount of data and information regarding the life histories of our birds, the 

 greater part of which has found its way into thumb-worn notebooks and dusty pigeon-holes. A 

 very small part of these investigations have been given the publicity they justly deserve thru 

 the medium of our scientific periodicals; but it is undoubtedly true that the p\iblished portion of 

 ornithological knowledge constitutes a very insignificant part of the whole. 



The realization of this fact has always been a source of wonder and regret to me; and in this 

 connection I have often asked myself the ciuestion, "Why cannot the bird lovers of the country 

 band together for the purpose of putting in black and white a great deal of the knowledge that 

 now is unavailal)le thru lack of publication." 



Further thought along these lines made it plain that the first requisite in an undertaking of 

 this kind was an instrument of publicity, and the management of The Condor promptly offered 

 their magazine as a solution of this problem. 



The details of an undertaking of this kind are far too complicated to he outlined by any one 

 person; but very roughly my ideas are as follows: 



There are very few l:)ird students but who have certain species of birds with which they are 

 intimately acquainted. According to location and environment these species vary among differ- 

 ent students, and those students whose acquaintance with a given species is very intimate, must 

 of reason be the recognized authorities on those given species. For example, after his wonder- 

 ful experience among the California Condors and the subsequent study he made of them, there 

 are very few who would not admit that ]\Ir. Finley was an authority on these birds. The same 

 is true of almost any student; he has his "pet" birds that come in for a large share of his atten- 

 tion, and his knowledge of these species is necessarily much greater than that of another student 

 whose interest is centered on other forms. 



Now if the men who are authorities on certain species would undertake the compilation of 

 existing information regarding these species from all sources, and the combined results of this 

 investigation could be embodied in one work, the result would undoubtedly be the greatest or- 

 nithological work that was ever published. 



One of the great advantages of a co-operati\-e plan of this kind would be that the work could 

 be divided among all the students of the country instead of deluging one man with this vast 

 amount of data. On the other hand the chief difficulty would probably lie in securing enough 

 men who are authorities on certain species, who would be willing to assume the responsibility of 

 collecting and compiling the necessary information. 



Wide pul)licity, a thoro organization, and the active cooperation of a large part of our active 

 students would be absolutely necessary to the ultimate success of the undertaking; but once the 

 work is gotten under way, the characteristic perseverance of American Naturalists would un- 

 doubtedly carry it thru, and when completed the ornithological fraternity would be the proud 

 possessors of a monumental work. 



I fully realize that upon first thought the whole idea seems rather vague and etherial, and 

 without active co-operation from a large number of students it would be entirely impractical; 

 but it is a question well worth some thought from Condor readers. My ideas are necessarily 

 very crude and incomplete, and I should like very much to see this ciuestion fully discussed. — R. 

 B. RocKVVELiv, Deliver, Colorado. 



