240 THE CONDOR 
f 
Vol. XXI 
fins, two Horned Puffins, two California Murres and one Cormorant. These birds were scat- 
tered in the drift wood and had evidently beenkilled by oil. One Horned Puffin brought back 
is now skeleton no. 30714 in the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. On May 17, 
1919, Mrs. Hocking obtained a- Horned Puffin at Coast Ways, near Pescadero, which is 
now specimen no. 30713 in the Museum.—HARoLD C. BRYANT, Berkeley, California, June 
Bo, 1919: 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
Criticism has come to the Editor of THE 
Conpork either directly or, more _ often, 
through indirect channels relative to the 
kinds of articles being published. Such crit- 
icism is various, to the effect that our mag- 
azine should publish proportionately more 
local lists, or fewer local lists; more reviews 
or no reviews at all; more life history ac- 
counts; etc., etc. Here is one determining 
factor, taking into consideration the volume 
for 1919, which concludes with this issue: 
We have put out just as many pages (252) 
as the money available pays for, this being 
determined by very close calculation on the 
part of our Business Managers. Now, as 
furnishing data to govern the Editor in the 
future, he hereby requests such of our read- 
ers as are sincerely concerned for the well- 
fare of THE Conpor to look over volume XXI 
critically and to write to him frankly as 
follows: What class of articles appeared to 
you as most worth publishing? What class 
of contributions—reviews, minutes, com- 
munications, lists, autobiographies—might 
have been left out altogether, their place 
being taken by other, more worthy, matter? 
What were the best kinds of illustrations, 
and what others might well have been omit- 
ted? The status of the annual roster was 
settled by vote of the Club early in the pres- 
ent year—and favorably to the continuance 
of that feature. Now the. Editor invites 
views in regard to the further policy of THE 
Conpor as outlined above. We cannot pub- 
lish any greater amount of material with the 
limited funds in hand; but we can change 
the kind of matter printed to some degree, 
although limited always by the kind and 
amount furnished by our contributors. What 
are your ideas? 
As regards the splitting of genera, in other 
words, the determination of the limits of 
any genus, we would call the attention of 
our readers to the article in the October 
(1919) Awk, by Mr. Ned Hollister, entitled 
“The systematic position of the Ring-necked 
Duck”. Mr. Hollister’s conclusions in regard 
to the constitution of the Genus Marila are 
certainly based on a sound and clearly set 
forth line of reasoning. It will be remem- 
bered that it has been recently proposed to 
set off the Canvasback in one genus, the 
Redhead in another, and the Scaups in a 
third! Hollister’s careful study of the facts, 
and of the other considerations involved, 
shows that Marila as it now stands should be 
“left without any subdivision at all’—with 
which conclusion we heartily concur. 
The current tendency in some quarters to- 
ward the suppression of the private collector 
seems to have gone to great lengths in Min- 
nesota. In Dr. T. S. Roberts’ useful and at- 
tractive handbook entitled “A review of the 
ornithology of Minnesota” (May, 1919) we 
find a statement in the “Addendum” to the 
effect that permits to collect birds, nests and 
eggs for scientific purposes are in that state 
to be issued only to public institutions that 
maintain zoological collections. Dr. Roberts 
points out that this attitude is directly op- 
posite to that taken by the Federal govern- 
ment and that the effect will be directly to- 
ward discouraging interest in ornithology 
and will eventually lead to a dearth of 
trained ornithologists. We entirely agree 
with the stand which he takes. 
Mr. George Willett has established himself 
and family for the winter at Craig, Prince of 
Wales Island, Alaska. He has arranged to 
devote practically his entire time to ornith- 
ology, and since he is, as far as we know, 
the first active bird student to winter in 
southeastern Alaska we may expect valua- 
ble results in the way of new facts concern- 
ing the seasonal behavior of the birds there. 
Practically nothing is now known, for in- 
stance, in regard to the route of migration 
of many of the birds which summer in west- 
ern Alaska and which winter in California. 
Whether or not they follow the coast line 
closely, traversing the outer of the coastal 
islands, or whether they pursue an off-shore 
route more or less distant from the land, re- 
mains to be proved. Mr. Willett’s findings 
will doubtless bear importantly upon this 
problem. 
The Thirty-seventh Stated Meeting of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union was held in 
New York City, November 11 to 14. Fellows 
elected were Alexander Wetmore and Joseph 
H. Riley; Henry W. Henshaw became a Re- 
tired Fellow. The only Western Fellow in 
attendance was Harry S. Swarth, represent- 
ing the California Museum of Vertebrate — 
Zoology. 
Four months of biological field work has 
been carried forward in the State of Wash- 
