72 



THE CONDOR 



Vol. XIX 



THE CONDOR 



A. Magazine of 

 "Western OrnitHolog'y 



Published Bi-Monthly by the 

 Cooper Ornithological Club 

 J. GRINNELL, Editor 

 HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor 

 J. EUGENE LAW 

 W. LEE CHAMBERS 



> Business Managers 



Hollywood, California: Published Mar. 15,1917 



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Address W. Lee Chambers, Business Manager, 

 Eagle Rock, Los Angeles County, California. 



EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 



Gilbert White, in his Natural History of 

 Selbourne, wrote under date of September 

 14, 1770: "Monographers, come from whence 

 they may, have, I think, fair pretense to 

 challenge some regard and approbation from 

 all the lovers of natural history; for, as no 

 man can alone investigate all the works of 

 nature, these partial writers may, each in 

 their department, be more accurate in their 

 discoveries, and freer from errors, than more 

 general writers; and so by degrees may pave 

 the way to an universal correct natural his- 

 tory." Which is to say, welcome the speci- 

 alist, who is most likely to furnish accurate 

 information. 



Examination of a number of local lists 

 in several of the current ornithological mag- 

 azines reveals a regrettable looseness in the 

 matter of recording facts of avian occur- 

 rence. It would seem superfluous to em- 

 phasize the necessity of giving exact dates 

 of both the first arrival .and average arrival, 

 of species, and similarly with departures. 

 Such phrases as "first of March" and "latter 

 part of February" have relatively little 

 value. If the notes given in local lists are 

 to prove worthy to be gathered together for 



basis of generalizations in the future, they 

 must provide definite as well as truthful 

 statements of fact. 



As one reads current literature in ornith- 

 ology he frequently encounters articles in 

 which the author has evidently made little 

 or no effort to post himself in regard to 

 the previous literature pertaining to his sub- 

 ject. Nothing seems more depressing than 

 to find an author launching supposedly new 

 facts, when the same ground may have been 

 covered, and perhaps much better, by some 

 student not so very long before. New 

 forms of birds, even, have been described 

 without reference to previous systematic 

 discussions in the same group. Comments 

 are made with naivete, which certainly will 

 not reflect credit upon the authors as their 

 work comes to take its place in perspective 

 with the passage of time. The moral of all 

 this is that prospective authors should go 

 through at least the more important indexes 

 relating to their region (if faunal work is 

 contemplated) or subjects. The indexes 

 available, annual and periodical, for The 

 Auk and The Condor, should be habitually 

 appealed to, as well as the chief general 

 works on ornithology. 



Through the energetic efforts of Mr. C. B. 

 Lastreto and other bird students of the San 

 Francisco Bay region there has recently 

 been formed an "Audubon Association of the 

 Pacific" with headquarters in San Francis- 

 co. On Friday evening, February 2, perma- 

 nent organization was effected, a constitu- 

 tion and by-laws adopted, and officers elect- 

 ed. Mr. C. B. Lastreto is President, Mr. W. 

 A. Squires, Secretary, and Mr. Harold E. 

 Hansen, Treasurer. The Association begins 

 with a good strong charter membership and 

 expects to be active along the lines usually 

 followed by Audubon societies. Information 

 may be secured from the Secretary, Mr. W. 

 A. Squires, 3852 Twenty-third Street, San 

 Francisco. 



The second annual meeting of the Pacific 

 Division of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science will be held 

 this year at Stanford University during the 

 period from April 4 to 7. It is planned that 

 Cooper Club representatives be present and 

 take an active part in those sessions where 

 topics of an ornithological nature can be 

 considered. One feature which promises 

 more than ordinary interest is the zoological 

 field trip scheduled for Saturday, April 7. 

 Professor J. O. Snyder will be in charge of 

 this, and of course birds will receive a large 

 share of attention. If it proves not feasible 

 for any Cooper Club member to attend the 

 entire meeting, special effort should be 

 made to take in at least this one day's field 

 trip. In this connection, it is to be pointed 

 out that the Cooper Club is an organization 

 affiliated with the Pacific Division, and 

 Club members can still join the American 

 Association under the advantageous condi- 

 tions obtaining last year. 



