8 o 
THE CONDOR 
I Vol. Ill 
AN INFORMATION COLUMN. 
The editors take pleasure in presenting and endorsing the following excel- 
lent suggestions: — 
vSan Francisco, April lo, igoi. 
To ISIemhers of the Cooper Club : — 
“In a recent number of The Condor (Vol. 3, No. 2) the editor’s parenthetical remarks un- 
der Mr. Lyman Belding’s imjuiry as to the song powers of our Golden-crowned Sparrow, are 
most pertinent to our desire to see an ‘Information Column’ embodied in this pnldication. 
■ “Only through some such medium can information necessary for even the partial complet- 
tion of ‘California Life Histories’ he secured. We therefore hope this suggestion will receive 
the earnest consideration we now ask for it. 
“The benefits to be derived by .some such co-operation will become apparent when due 
thought is given to the enhanced value of notes taken at various points simultaneously as com- 
pared with those of some one individual taken sporadically in various localities, or in different 
years in the same locality. Under the former system the arrivals and departures, moults, nest- 
ing habits etc., would be observed under corresponding conditio is instead of, as might be in the 
latter cases, under such varied conditions as could readily arise from climatic or food influences. 
Thus, jVIay notes taken in, say, Los Angeles County during May of a dry year and those taken 
in Marin County iluring the corresponding month of a wet year would be valueless in their com- 
parative deductions, as compared with such taken in those counties simultaneously. 
“As many of us desire information with which to fill out gaps in our own observations, 
would it not be a good scheme to establish a column of information in The Condor, for the 
purpose of mutually supplying information in answer to each other’s queries? If more than 
one answer be received to any one question this department could be edited and condensed by 
the editor of the magazine in such a way as to bring forth facts and authorities and yet not oc- 
cupy much space. 
“There are many questions to which we can find no answers in ornithological libraries to 
which we may have access. Many of these answers should be found among notes collected by 
different members of the Club. Other questions to which no notes will apj)ly may prove a 
stimulus to further and more detailed observation on the part of those interested, and the re- 
sults in either case would be of benefit to all. — ^J. & J. W. M.aili.i.vrd. ’’ 
Since the Information Column is obviously capable of bringing into publica- 
tion much valuable data, it will become a permanent feature of this magazine pro- 
viding Club members take an active interest as should be the case. Queries will 
be numbered consecutively and subsequent replies will bear the numbers of the 
queries to which they may refer. 
OUERIE.S. 
1. What is the California winter range of the Cedar Waxwing? 
2. What is the California summer range of the Cedar Waxwing, with notes 
as to breeding records? 
3. Time of post-juvenal moult in the House Finch? 
4. Time of disappearance of similarity to adult males in plumage of Dryo- 
bates and Melanerpes? 
5. Any peculiarities noted during the past winter in the range of Clarke’s 
Nutcracker? — John W. Mailliard. 
6. Does the Rufous Humingbird {Selasphorns riifus) breed in California? 
Hundreds of nests and eggs have been collected in this state and sent out to 
museums and collectors as of this species; and numerous articles have been 
written describing the ne.sting of the Rufous Hummingbird from different parts of 
the state, even south to San Diego. Nevertheless I feel almost confident that it is 
principally if not altogether the Allen Humingbird {S. alleiii') to which these ac- 
counts refer. All the nests of which I have personall}^ known have been of the 
latter species. The fact that the former species occurs in migration in the same 
localities and at the same seasons, should make the collector all the more careful 
in his identifications. Will someone present an artthentic instance of the nesting 
of the Rufous Hummingbird in California? — ^J oseph Grinnell. 
