26 



THE CONDOR 



Vol. XIX 



THE CONDOR 



A. Magazine of 

 Western OrnitHology 



Published Bi-Monthly by the 

 Cooper Ornithological Club 



J. GRINNELL, Editor 



HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor 



J. EUGENE LAW 1 _ . -, 



W. LEE CHAMBERS } BuSUie " Mana&e " 



Hollywood, California: Published Jan. 15, 1917 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES 



One Dollar and Fifty Cents per Year in the United 

 States, payable in advance. 



Thirty Cents the single copy. 



One Dollar and Seventy-five Cents per Year in all 



other countries in the International Postal Union. 



COOPER CLUB DUES 



Two Dollars per year for members residing in the 



United States. 

 Two Dollars and Twenty-five Cents in all other 



countries. 



Manuscripts for publication, and Books and Papers for 



Review, should be sent to the Editor, J. Grinnell, 

 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Cali- 

 fornia, Berkeley, California. 



Claims for missing or imperfect numbers should be made 

 of the Business Manager, as addressed below, within 

 thirty days of date of issue. 



Cooper Club Dues, Subscriptions to The Condor, and 

 Exchanges, should be sent to the Business Manager. 



Advertising' Rates on application to the Business 

 Manager. 



Address W. I,ee Chambers, Business Manager, 

 Eagle Rock, L,os Angeles County, California. 



EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 



The once widely-held notion that swal- 

 lows and swifts hibernate in the mud like 

 frogs was long ago shattered, as being con- 

 trary to both probability and ascertained 

 fact. Mr. Hanna, in the opening article of 

 this issue of The Condor, raises the ques- 

 tion whether White-throated Swifts may not 

 at times in winter hide themselves away in 

 the crevices of cliffs and pass through a 

 period of dormancy. There appears to be 

 some ground for reviving the idea of bird 

 hibernation. 



Financial matters have caused continual 

 delay in the printing of Avifauna no. 12 

 (Howell's Birds of the Southern California 

 Coast Islands). But now the C. O. C. Busi- 

 ness Managers announce that the way is 

 clear, and that we are to see the publica- 

 tion of this memoir just as soon as it can 

 be put through Nace's print shop. 



Neither The Condor, the Avifauna series, 

 nor the Zoological Publications of the Uni- 

 versity of California are copyrighted. We 

 can see no adequate reason for in any way 

 hampering the free and unlimited distribu- 



tion of knowledge. The specialists' discov- 

 ery of today should become the common 

 knowledge of everyone tomorrow. At the 

 same time, common courtesy demands that 

 where important facts or passages are tak- 

 en from original sources and incorporated 

 into a new article, or book, proper credit 

 be indicated. There is often a need for en- 

 suring authoritativeness of statement, to 

 be met in this way also. 



Mr. Austin Paul Smith is now doing field 

 work in western Texas, with headquarters 

 at Fort Davis. He reports finding among 

 other birds of interest, the Lloyd Bush-tit 

 in goodly numbers. Condor readers will 

 doubtless soon hear in detail of Mr. Smith's 

 observations in that interesting section of 

 the country. 



Owing to ill health, Mr. H. W. Henshaw 

 has resigned his position as Chief of the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey, Department of 

 Agriculture, dating from December 1. Mr. 

 Henshaw has been connected with the De- 

 partment of Agriculture since 1905, serving 

 as Assistant Chief of the Bureau until 1910, 

 and from then on, as Chief. During this 

 period the Survey has grown rapidly. In 

 order that the Bureau may continue to have 

 the benefit of Mr. Henshaw's knowledge 

 and experience he will retain official con- 

 nection with it as Consulting Biologist. Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson, who has been on the scienti- 

 fic staff of the Bureau since 1890, and As- 

 sistant Chief since 1914, has been appointed 

 to succeed Mr. Henshaw as Chief of the 

 Bureau. 



Mr. Frank Stephens has been made Su- 

 perintendent of the newly established Zoo- 

 logical Garden in San Diego. 



Of all the direct agencies of destruction 

 brought to bear on our native bird-life as a 

 result of human settlement of the country, 

 that satellite of man, the domestic cat, is 

 undoubtedly the worst. The whole question 

 of cat perfidy and cat suppression is ably 

 discussed by Mr. E. H. Forbush in a bulle- 

 tin (number 2 of the Economic Biology se- 

 ries) lately issued by the Massachusetts 

 State Board of Agriculture. No one inter- 

 ested in bird protection (and who is not?) 

 should fail to read this admirable presenta- 

 tion of the subject. 



MINUTES OF COOPER CLUB MEETINGS 



NORTHERN DIVISION 



September. — The regular meeting of the 

 Northern Division of the Cooper Ornitholog- 

 ical Club was held on the evening of Sep- 

 tember 21, 1916, at the Museum of Vertebrate 

 Zoology, Berkeley. The following members 

 were present when the meeting was called 

 to order by President Storer: Messrs. Bry- 

 ant, Camp, Carriger, Davis, Dawson, Grin- 

 nell, Hansen, Storer; Miss Crane; Mrs. 

 Grinnell and Mrs. Schlisinger. 



