Nov., 1912 
:mixutes of cooper ceuh :meetings 
2.3.S 
on conservation of wild life', gave a - report, 
briefly outlining the work accomplished by 
the committee, and sketching some of the 
plans for the future 
It was suggested that the Club renew its 
petition to the American Orthnithologists" 
Union, requesing that society to hold its an- 
nual meeting in 1915 in San Francisco, joint- 
ly with the Cooper Club, as contained m a 
lesolution passed at the October, 1911, meet- 
ing. The secretary was instructUl to draft 
such a proposal and send it to the Southern 
Division for its approval. 
The paper of the evening was ‘‘The Rela- 
tion of Birds to a Grasshopper Outbreak in 
California,” by H. C. Bryant, presenting some 
of the results of a study of the actions and 
diet of certain species of birds during a 
plague of grasshoppers in the San Joaquin 
Valley. Adjourned. — H. S. S\v.\rTh. Secre- 
tary. 
October. — The October meeting of the 
Xorthern Division was held at the .Museum 
of Vertebrate Zoology on Saturday evening, 
October 19, with President Coggins in the 
chair, and the following members present : 
Bryant, Coggins, Gifford, Heinemann, Joseph 
Mailliard, Miner, Shelton and Swarth. Mr. 
A. L. Barrows was a visitor. The Northern 
Division minutes for September were read 
and approved, followed by the reading of the 
Southern Division September minutes. 
The following individuals were elected to 
membership in the club: F. S. Hanford, J. 
N. Loshinski, W. P. Gee, F. C. Clarke, W. 
B. Bell, C. C. Schmidt, M. Johnson, H. V. 
Williams, A. Eastgate. New names were 
presented as follows: Hilda Wood Grinnell, 
proposed by J. Grinnell ; A. L. Barrows, Ber- 
kele 3 q by H. C. Bryant ; Hans. Flochbaum, 
Los Angeles, by L. H. Miller; A. Cookman, 
Los Angeles, by Evan Davis ; P. E. Letch- 
worth Jr., Covina, by A. B. How'ell ; E. W. 
Merrill, Sitka, Alaska, by G. Willett; and W. 
A. Squires, Stockton, by W. Lee Chambers. 
The only new business was the ratification 
of the amendment to the Constitution deal- 
ing with the distribution of Club publica- 
tions, already passed by the Southern Divi- 
sion. 
Mr. Coggins read some extracts from Cas- 
sinia, as of especial interest to California 
ornithologists. In the absence of Mr. Taylor 
the report of the conservation committee was 
read bj^ Mr. Bryant. Mr. Gifford, in the 
course of an account of some of his experi- 
ences with wild ducks in an aviary, made 
a strong plea for the great value of experi- 
mental work with captive birds, as supple- 
mental to field work and the study of muse- 
um material. Some of his remarks were il- 
lustrated with study skins showing certain of 
the more unusual plumages ; and the speaker 
pointed out the danger of drawing erroneous 
conclusions from the mere observation of 
these conditions without a thorough knowl- 
edge of the life history of the bird. His re- 
marks called forth a rather extended discus- 
.‘=ion of the subject. 
Mr. Bryant had on exhibition a series of 
wall charts showing the food of certain spe- 
cies of birds, these being destined for use in 
an exhibit which the State Fish and Game 
Commission is to place in the Alameda 
County F'air. Adjourned, — FI. S. Swarth, 
Secrefary. 
REPORT OF organization MEETING, CALIFORNIA 
associated societies for the CONSER- 
VATION OF WILD LIFE 
It now ( November 14) becomes my pleas- 
ant duty to transmit a record of the organi- 
zation meeting of which mention is made on 
page 227. Representatives of nine organiza- 
tions. as well as all the members of the Coop- 
er Club Committee on Conservation of Wild 
Life (Northern Division), and Secretary 
Schaeffle of the Fish and Game Commission, 
were present at the meeting. Instead of a 
membership of five societies and between one 
and two thousand individuals, as prophesied 
on page 228 of this issue, the California Asso- 
ciated Societies for the Conservation of Wild 
Life was inaugurated with a constituency of 
nine societies having a total membership of 
lietween nine and ten thousand persons. 
The Executive Committee of the new as- 
sociation consists of the following persons . 
Dr. William F. Bade, Sierra Club ; Roy E. 
Dickerson, Paleontological Society of the Pa- 
cific Coast : J. Grinnell, California Academy 
of Sciences: Matthew McCurrie, State Hu- 
mane Association and San Francisco Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: W. 
Leon Dawson, State Auduhon Society of 
California ; Professor L. L. Burlingame, Bio- 
logical Society of the Pacific Coast ; J. H. 
Cutter, Tamalpais Conservation Club; W. P. 
Taylor, Cooper Ornithological Club. Dr. 
William F'. Bade of the Sierra Club was 
elected President of the California Associated 
Societies, and W. P. Taylor of the Cooper 
Club, Secretary. 
A program of practical work was outlined, 
and it is intended to push with all diligence 
the passage of laws desired for wise conserva- 
tion of wild life. 
The most important and immediately desired 
measures are the following: (1) A no-sale of 
American-killed wild game law. (2) A law 
placing all assistants and deputies of the 
Fish and Game Commission under Civil Ser- 
vice. ('3) The absolute protection of the Red- 
head. Wood Duck, Ibis, Shore-birds, Rail. 
Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning Dove,, and Sea 
Otter. 
W. P. Taylor, Chairman 
Committee on Conservation of Wild Life, 
Xorthern Division. 
