36 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
THE CONDOR 
A Magazine of 
"Western Ornithology 
Published Bi-Monthly by the 
Cooper Ornithological Club 
J. GRINNELL, Editor 
HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor 
J. EUGENE LAW I „ . 
W. LEE CHAMBERS / Business Managers 
Hollywood, California: Published Jan. 15, 1916 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
One Dollar and Fifty Cents per Year in the United 
States, 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. 
COOPER CLUB DUES 
Two Dollars per year for members residing in the 
United States. 
Two Dollars and Twenty-five Cents in all other 
countries. 
Manuscripts for publication, and Books and Papers for 
Review, should be sent to the Editor, J. Grinnell, 
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Cali- 
fornia, Berkeley, California. 
Claims for missing or imperfect numbers should be made 
of the Business Manager, as addressed below, within 
thirty days of date of issue. 
Cooper Club Dues, Subscriptions to The Condor, and 
Exchanges, should be sent to the Business Manager. 
Advertising' Rates on application to the Business 
Manager. 
Address W. Lee Chambers, Business Manager, 
Eagle Rock, Los Angeles County, California. 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
Contributors to The Condor will doubtless 
wish to avail themselves of any opportunity 
of improving their literary out-put. To this 
end we would recommend securing and 
studying a pamphlet recently issued from 
the University of California Press under the 
experienced authorship of the Manager, Mr. 
Albert H. Allen. The title, “Suggestions on 
the preparation of manuscript”, indicates 
the scope. As long as surplus copies are in 
stock each applicant may secure one by 
sending a two-cent stamp with his request 
to the University of California Press, Berke- 
ley. 
During a recent trip through southern 
California, the Editor visited the home of 
Mr. W. Lee Chambers, one of the Business 
Managers of the Cooper Club. Of great 
interest there, was the admirable system 
with which the Club’s property and finan- 
cial affairs are handled. The greatest of 
scrupulosity is observed in accounting for 
every item. Back numbers of Condors and 
Avifaunas, amounting to tons, are housed 
in an isolated fire-proof building, the re- 
serve supply carefully wrapped so as to es- 
cape injury from dust and dampness, and 
everything card-indexed to the very last 
copy. An exact accounting of Club funds, 
as derived from dues and subscriptions, can 
be ascertained from the card files any day 
in the year. The attention of both Mr. Law 
and Mr. Chambers is now concentrated upon 
ways and means to expand the publication- 
capacity of the Club, in other words, upon 
enlargement of The Condor and more fre- 
quent additions to the Avifauna series. 
During the greater part of the past year 
the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoolo- 
gy has been conducting field work upon the 
birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians of 
the Yosemite region of the Sierra Nevada. 
The objects of this work have been two- 
fold: First, to make a detailed and com- 
parative faunal study along a definite cross- 
section of the central Sierra Nevada from 
the San Joaquin Valley base to Mono Lake; 
and second, to provide material to be used 
as basis of a semi-popular account of the 
vertebrate natural history of Yosemite Na- 
tional Park. 
Under the first head, maps, photographs 
and large collections of specimens have 
been assembled, from which to determine 
the nature and extent of the life zones of 
the region, and to define the systematic 
status and inter-relationships of the various 
constituent vertebrate species. 
Under the second head, much information 
has been gathered concerning the life-his- 
tories of the conspicuous species, particu- 
larly birds and mammals, and the relations 
of these to Park conditions from the stand- 
point of the nature-loving visitor. The prin- 
ciple is evident, that the animal life of any 
Federal Reservation is an important asset, 
to be considered as such along with the 
forests, lakes, water-falls and sculptured 
cliffs. The birds and mammals should be 
conserved in maximum numbers, as valua- 
ble elements going to make up the sum- 
total of attractiveness. 
The Yosemite National Park is visited by 
thousands of people each year, a certain 
portion of whom would find, in an appro- 
priately compiled account of its natural his- 
tory, a guide and incentive to pleasurable 
observation of its animal life. An increas- 
ing number of people are turning their at- 
tention at vacation time toward out-of-door 
bird-study. In fact there is a distinct tend- 
ency to be observed among educated classes, 
to include a first-hand knowledge of the 
higher vertebrates among those accom- 
plishments the possession of which denotes 
intellectual refinement. 
To meet and promote the above tendency, 
and to emphasize an important National 
Park asset, were the considerations which 
prompted the undertaking here outlined. 
The Yosemite Natural History Survey, to- 
gether with compilation of results, is being 
