of Weybridge, England. Its first issue, a four page monthly sheet, appeared in 

 June, 1919, and it has recently doubled in size, in addition to a "Confidential Supple- 

 ment'' issued for subscribers only. Mr. Skinner is a veteran at the egg game, and 

 the enterprise is sure to progress under his able management. Not the least valuable 

 of the magazine's services is the bringing together of scattered workers, and the 

 infusion of a spirit of solidarity in the cratt. We are already much beholden to the 

 "O. E. & M." tor the establishment of pleasant connections, and we are sending this 

 Journal to all its subscribers, irrespective of previous acknowledgments. 



A like spirit of inquiry into matters oblogical is manifested by the supporters of 

 "The Emu," the dignified and worthy organ of the Royal Australian Ornithologists 

 Union. Not an issue appears which does not record the adventures of some major 

 nesting trip, or describe the nidification of some species new, or almost new, to 

 science. Inere is a freshness and enthusiasm about this journal which, no less than 

 its judicial scientific temper, makes a strong appeal to the student of cosmopolitan 

 ornithology. Perhaps it is a first love therein recorded. "The Emu" is only in its 

 XlXth year, but if so, may it be indefinitely prolonged. Better a jejune utterance or 

 a little repetition if need be than the blase spirit which is manifest in certain other 

 quarters, and which makes "ornithologists"' yawn at the mention of a bird's nest and 

 turn to the preparation of — gopher skins. 



The English-speaking world has no monopoly of interest in birds' eggs either. 

 "El Hornero,'' the official organ of the Sociedad Ornitologica del Plata bristles with 

 it. Argentina comes pretty nearly being the United States of South America, and the. 

 alert spirit of the country is reflected in these pages. We do not read Spanish (yet), 

 but we can appreciate a half-tone labelled Nido y huevos del Picaflor gigante (Pata- 

 gona gigas), and we are smitten with instant envy of Senor Carlos Samuel Reed, 

 who presents it. We recommend "El Hornero" to our readers as an important means 

 of getting in step with the new world stride. 



Under the necessity of crowding a year's work into a single ("double") number 

 of the Journal, many important matters have had to go by the board. These include 

 formal reports of business meetings, accounts of field trips, etc. We have reams to 

 say about museum practice, and double reams about phylogenetic relationships, emerg- 

 ing to clearness out of their ancient fog. But these must wait. Correspondents have 

 sent us much news both cheering and helpful, but we have been uncertain what we had 

 a right to publish and are asking for a clearer distinction of publishable matter, in 

 order that we may be fortified for the next time. Most regrettably, an important dis- 

 cussion submitted by Mr. A. C. Bent, regarding a pricing method for birds' eggs, has 

 been crowded out of this issue — largely because of the editorial expansiveness. Gen- 

 tlemen, we shall have to have more room, — more room or less air. 



THE BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA ENTERPRISE. 



A Review of the Situation Wherein the Author Is Rather Frank, but Not as Frank 

 as He Might Be. Of Special Interest to Members of the C. O. C. 



The popular descriptive MS. of "The Birds of California" is now practically com- 

 plete. Although something remains to be done on the technical side — plumage 

 description and topical matter — this is an affair of weeks, and is quite subsidiary to 

 the main purpose of the work, which is now realized. This fact of the essentially 

 completed manuscript justifies the writer in indulging some plain talk about past 

 conditions, and in making some confident announcements regarding the immediate 

 future. 



When the author proposed, some nine years ago, the preparation of an elaborate 

 subscription work upon the Birds of California, he only half realized, and none of his 

 friends began to realize, the magnitude of the task before him. As a natural conse- 

 quence plans were formulated and ratified which could have been consummated only 

 under the nearly ideal conditions then existent, viz., in 1910 and 1911. That these 

 conditions speedily changed for the worse in 1912 and 1913, the reader need not be 

 reminded. The extent of field investigation required in order to enable the writer to 

 do clean, first-hand, comprehensive work, and the apathy of "capital" regarding an 

 undertaking which it did not pretend to understand, operated to prolong the time of 

 preparation far beyond the promised period. Above all, the oncoming of the war 

 with its absorption of interest and change of emphasis, and, finally, its setting aside of 

 all lesser work, delayed "The Birds of California'' still further. 



At the most critical period of the enterprise, viz., in the fall of 1915, a sort of 

 blind panic set in, a financial crisis which would have sent the author-manager to the 

 wall if it had not been for the timely succor of a few local friends, friends who, as it 

 happened, were very little interested in a bird-book, but who were interested in any- 



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