THE CONDOR 
io8 
I VOL. V 
Joint Meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union and the Cooper Ornithologi- 
cal Club of California 
T he combined forces of the American Ornithologists’ Union and the Cooper 
Ornithological Club assembled at the California Academy of Sciences, San 
Francisco, May 15 and 16. The members of the A. O. U. and their friends, 
about forty strong, had just completed an enjoyable trip from the east via the 
Santa Fe route, upon which stops were made at Santa Fe, Adamana and the petri- 
fied forest, Grand Canyon, Hesperia in the Mohave Desert, Riverside, and Los 
Angeles. At Los Angeles a reception was tendered by members of the Southern 
Division of the Cooper Club. 
The meetings were held in the Lecture Hall of the Academy and the first ses- 
sion was called on Friday, the 15th, at II o’clock, by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 
Charles R. Keyes acting as .secretary. Subsequent sessions were held on the after- 
noon and evening of the same day, and on the following morning. An elaborate 
luncheon was provided on both days, by the members of the Academy, at the 
Poodle Dog, where good cheer was dispensed with a lavish hand. To the kindly 
hospitality of the Academy in large part was due the success of the meeting. 
During the first session Mr. Joseph Grinnell read a valuable paper on the 
‘Origin and Distribution of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee,’ which was followed 
by remarks by Dr. Merriam. Mr. Leverett Mills Loomis then read ‘Recognition 
of Geographic Variation in Nomenclature,’ in which he took issue against the 
present-day tendencies towards trinomial profundity. This suggestive essay was 
discussed by Mr. Chapman and Drs. Merriam and Dwight. 
During the afternoon session Mr. Walter K. Fisher exhibited a set of slides 
illustrating ‘An Island Community, or Bird-life on Laysan.’ Laysan is a little 
coral islet situated about 800 miles west- northwest of Honolulu, and harbors 
a considerable variety of sea-fowl and a few land birds, all the latter 
being peculiar to the island. Mr. Donald A. Cohen read an inter- 
esting paper, ‘Some Observations on the Prairie Falcon’ which was followed 
by a talk by Mr. Joseph Mailliard, ‘Notes on the Birds of Chili,’ in which the diffi- 
culties of a collector in that country were vividly portrayed. Mr. Joseph Grinnell 
read a short paper on ‘Call Notes of the Bush-tit,’ followed by ‘Remarks on the 
A. O. U. journey across the Continent,’ by Mr. Louis A. Fuertes. 
During the evening session Mr. Frank M. Chapman gave a most entertaining 
lecture on ‘The Bird Islands of our Atlantic Coast’ illustrated with beautifully 
colored lantern slides. Mr. Chapman commenced with the bird community on 
Perce Rock in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sketched the principal bird islands of 
the coast, finishing with a remarkable flamingo colony in the Bahamas. Mr. W. 
Otto Emerson then took the meeting to ‘The Farallon Islands,’ in an illustrated talk 
showing many views of these celebrated bird rocks off our California coast. 
The Saturday morning session was occupied largely by Mr. Wm. L. Finley’s 
‘Oregon Birds Caught with a Camera,’ illustrated with superb lantern slides, from 
photographs taken by Messrs. Bohlman and Finley. In point of interest and value 
this set has never been surpassed. Especially noteworthy were the series of life- 
history views, detailing various stages in the growth of young birds, and the do- 
mestic duties of many of our w^estern species. Mr. Fuertes, by request, then en- 
tertained the meeting by imitating the songs and calls of a number of eastern birds. 
The following papers were read by title; ‘The Cassin Auklet,’ Howard Robert- 
son; ‘Notes on the Bird Conditions of Fresno District,’ J. M. Miller; ‘Do Valley 
Quail Use Sentinels?’ Jno. J. Williams. 
