212 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XII] 
THE CONDOR 
An Illustrated Magazine 
of Western Ornithology 
Published Bi-Monlhly by the 
Cooper Ornithological Club 
J. GRINNELL. Editor. 
J. EVGENE LAW I 
W. LEE CHAMBERS i 
Berkeley, Ca.lif. 
Business Managers 
HARRY S. SWARTH ^ 
ROBERT B. ROCKWELL I Associate Editors 
G. WILLETT j 
Hollywood, California: Published Nov. 24, 1911 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
One Dollar and Fifty Cents per Year in the United States, 
Canada, Mexico and U.S. Colonies, 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. 
Claims for missing or imperfect numbers should be 
made within thirty da.vs of date of i.ssue. 
Subscriptions and Exchanges should be .sent to the 
Business Manager. 
MzLnuscripts for publication, and Books and Pampers 
for review, should be sent to the Kditor. 
Advertising Rates on application. 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
There is a growing custom among museum 
and private collectors concerning which a word 
of caution may be in order. We refer to that 
of securing the services of missionaries, 
traders, prospectors, and others not well versed 
in ornitholog}' to gather eggs of rare northern 
birds, these eggs to be preserved and distributed 
as scientific specimens. It is extremely diffi- 
cult in many cases to insure accurate identit}- 
of the various geese, ducks, waders and gulls 
even by the trained field naturalist. Although 
a few bird skins may have been saved, the 
discrimination of species on the ground where 
.scores of indiviilnals representing many 
species nest in close proximity to one another, 
is a difficult matter. The tendency to gather 
in a big showing is liable to overcome the best 
of intentions with regard to accnrac}'. The 
grave danger scientifically comes of course 
when data accompanying such eggs is pub- 
lished. We have no doubt but that there are 
many bad records in onr literature traceable to 
some such source. This danger should he 
vigorously guarded against, even if by so 
doing a museum collection does not grow so 
rapidly. 
Mr. J. H. Riley and IMr. N. Hollister, both 
of the staff of the United States National Mu- 
seum, spent a portion of the past summer 
collecting in western Alberta and eastern 
British Columbia. .Specimens, practicall}' 
topotypes, of Gray-crowned Rosy Finch, 
White-tailed Ptarmigan and Franklin Grouse, 
were obtained. 
Part of Ridgway’s “Birds of North and 
Middle America” is reported almost ready for 
distribution, Mr. Ridgway being now occupied 
upon Part VI. His color book is to be expected 
shortly as all the color work has been done and 
only the text remains to be printed. 
Mr. G. Willett's “Birds of Southern Califor- 
nia” is nearly ready for the printer. It is to be 
published by the Cooper Ornithological Club 
as Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 7, and distributed 
free to all members. Its cost will be defrayed 
by private subscription. Mr. Willett’s contri- 
bution will consist of an exhaustive compila- 
tion of all that is known to date in regard to 
the manner of occurence of the birds of that 
part of southern California lying west of the 
desert divide. We look forward with great in- 
terest to the appearance of this carefully exe- 
cuted work. 
There will shortly appear from the Univer- 
sity of California Press two notable papers 
chiefly of an ornithological nature. These 
are: Mr. II. S. Swarth’s report upon the Alex- 
ander Expedition to Vancouver Island in 1910, 
and the concluding part of Mr. W. P. Taylor’s 
report upon the field work of the Alexander 
P^xpedition to Nevada in 1909. 
Mr. W. Leon Dawson spent a goodly portion 
of the field season just closed in out-door work 
contributory to his projected “Birds of Califor- 
nia.” The P'arallone Islands and the Mount 
Whitney region shared in this 3 'ear’s attention, 
each localitj' contributing to Mr. Dawson’s 
stock of first-hand ornithology. The editor of 
The Condor has been privileged to examine 
some of the photos obtained, and he enthu- 
siasticallj' asserts that they include some of the 
most successful bird photographs he has ever 
seen. 
PUB L I CATIONS REV I E WED. 
Birds and Mammals oe the 1909 Alex- 
ander Alaska Expedition by Harry S. 
SwARTH. [=Univ. Calif. Pnbl., Zook, vii, 
pp. 9-172, pis. 1-6; Jan. 12. 1911]. 
In continuation of its well-planned and well- 
executed campaign in Alaska, the University 
