Jan., 1918 



EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 



47 



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 



W. LEE CHAMBERS 



> Business Managers 



Hollywood, California: Published Jan. 18, 1918 



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Manuscripts for publication, and Books and Papers for 



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

 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Cali- 

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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 

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Address W. Lee Chambers, Business Manager, 

 Bagle Rock, Los Angeles County, California. 



not sought after by man, the pelicans cannot 

 fairly be considered as interfering with his 

 interests. 



The annual meeting of the American Or- 

 nithologists' Union was held at Cambridge, 

 Mass., November 12-16, 1917. The election 

 of officers resulted in two notable changes. 

 Mr. John H. Sage, who for so many years 

 has borne the burden of the secretaryship 

 of the Union, was elected president, while 

 Dr. T. S. Palmer becomes secretary. Mr. H. 

 W. Henshaw and Dr. Witmer Stone were re- 

 elected as vice-presidents, and Dr. Jonathan 

 Dwight, treasurer. 



The single vacancy in the list of Fellows 

 was filled by the election of P. A. Taverner. 

 R. H. Beck, W. S. Brooks, James P. Chapin, 

 Francis Harper, and Winsor M. Tyler were 

 elected members. 



The public meetings were held at the Mu- 

 seum of Comparative Zoology. The papers 

 presented comorised a varied program, 

 treating- of birds of several remote parts of 

 the world, and of manv diverse phases of 

 ornithological studv. Some contrasting ti- 

 tles are afforded bv the following - : A Purnle 

 Martin Roost in the Citv of Washington, bv 

 H. C. Obprholser: "Sig;ht Records" — a Prob- 

 lem of Pres^nt-dav Ornithologv. bv Witmer 

 Stone: The Snan of Life and Period of Activ- 

 ity of Ornithologists, by T. S. Palmer: An 

 Ornithological Journev from the Tableland 

 to the Tronics in Peru, bv Fran^ M. Chap- 

 man: Tail Feathers and th^ir Unner Cov- 

 erts, bv Hubert L. Clar^: and The Future of 

 the Federal Bird Reservations, by George W. 

 Field. 



EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 



The apparently deleterious effect of the 

 large local pelican population upon the fish 

 supply of Pyramid Lake, Nevada, was the 

 subject of an editorial note in The Condor 

 for September, 1917 (vol. xix, p. 171). It 

 was suggested that in the event of the more 

 extensive employment of the fishes of this 

 lake for human food, the pelicans might 

 have to be materially reduced in number as 

 an economic measure. In a recent paper by 

 Professor John O. Snyder (Bull. U. S. Bu- 

 reau Fisheries, vol. xxxv, pp. 33-86, pis. 3-5) 

 dealing exhaustively with the fishes of the 

 Lahontan basin, in Nevada and northeastern 

 California, the belief is expressed that prac- 

 tically the only harm done by the pelicans 

 is in consuming fishes that, though of no 

 direct importance to man, might be availa- 

 ble as food for the really valuable trout. It 

 is further suggested, however, that the ex- 

 tensive capture of the trout by man has 

 resulted in a suberabundance of minnows 

 and suckers. As long as these latter are 



On September 23, 1917, there occurred the 

 death of Henry Reed Taylor, after an ill- 

 ness extending over eleven years. Cooper 

 Club members need no reminder of the scone 

 of Mr. Tavlor's activities at the time of the 

 founding- of the Club and for some years 

 thereafter, of his boundless enthusiasm as 

 a collector, and of the energy and ability 

 he displaved as founder and editor of The 

 Nidologist. His magazine during the entire 

 period of its existence (1893 to 1897) served 

 as medium of publication for the minutes 

 of Cooner Club meetings, as well as for the 

 writings of manv individual members of the 

 Club. Mr. Tavlor's name is altogether so 

 stronglv bound up with the Club's inception, 

 as well as with those first several years 

 when its continuance as a society was due 

 onlv to the constant efforts of a few indi- 

 viduals, that the unhanpv circumstances 

 attending his last years call for our deepest 

 commiseration. 



Cooper Club members will learn with 

 deep regret of the death of Mr. Lyman Beld- 



