234 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVIII 
THE CONDOR 
A Magazine of 
"Western OrnitHolog'y 
Published Bi-Monthly by the 
Cooper Ornithological Club 
J. GR1NNELL, Editor 
HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor 
J. EUGENE LAW "I „ . 
W. LEE CHAMBERS J BuS1 " eSS ManagCrS 
Hollywood, California: Published Nov. 29, 1916 
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Address W. Lee Chambers. Business Manager, 
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EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
Editorial acknowledgment is hereby made 
to Mr. J. R. Pemberton for his efficient ser- 
vice in compiling the Index which concludes 
the current volume of The Condor. 
Two Californians went East to attend the 
American Ornithologists’ Union congress 
held in Philadelphia this year, Mr. Joseph 
Mailliard and Mr. J. Eugene Law. A wire 
(November 13) has come from the former, 
announcing the election to Fellowship, of 
Mr. Harry S. Swarth. This is a well-de- 
served recognition of the high grade of Mr. 
Swarth’s systematic work on Western birds. 
The number of Fellows in the A. O. U. is 
restricted to fifty. There are now six A. O. 
U. Fellows residing west of the Mississippi. 
The IMs for April contains an article of 
unusual worth, by C. F. M. Swynnerton, on 
the coloration of the mouths and eggs of 
birds. The significance in some cases 
seems to be clearly that of warning, there 
being an accompaniment of bright color or 
conspicuous pattern with disagreeable taste 
or odor, such as is proven to discourage at- 
tention from potential enemies. Thus the 
older idea of a directive meaning must in 
part be supplanted. Here is a line of obser- 
vation well worth taking up by field ornith- 
ologists in America. 
Alice Hall Walter, in the school depart- 
ment of September Bird-Lore, utters some 
timely warnings in regard to current meth- 
ods of popularizing bird study. She has 
clearly perceived an unfortunate tendency 
which can only be counteracted by repeated 
warnings such as she sounds. The trend of 
her remarks is indicated by the following 
quotations. “The superficial student, inter- 
ested only in the popular side of ornithol- 
ogy, is apt to shun the trained ornitholo- 
gist’s method, to balk at his standard of 
thoroughness. . . . To be unable to con- 
centrate one’s attention upon a single prob- 
lem which may be solved by careful ob- 
servation” is a serious defect, “resulting in- 
evitably in a lowered standard and a cir- 
cumscribed acquaintance with bird-life.” 
Whenever this kind of bird-study “tends to a 
sentimental , inaccurate and uninspired con- 
ception of the place of birds in nature and 
their value to man, it deserves the criticism 
of having degenerated into a study which 
cannot hold a secure place ...” in 
schools or anywhere else, and is no longer 
worth encouraging. 
The death of Lieutenant-colonel E. Alex- 
ander Mearns took place at Washington, D. 
C., on November 1, in the 61st year of his 
age. Mearns is known to western ornitholo- 
gists more especially through his field work 
along the Mexican boundary. Many valua- 
ble articles on southwestern birds have ap- 
peared from his pen. 
F. E. L. BEAL AND ECONOMIC ORNITH- 
OLOGY IN CALIFORNIA 
Our present knowledge of the food habits 
of California birds is in a large measure due 
to the painstaking work of Foster Ellenbor- 
ough Lascelles Beal, Assistant, United 
States Biological Survey, who for many 
years devoted considerable attention to the 
economic relations of the birds of this State. 
The extent and importance of this work is 
emphasized anew by the news of Professor 
Beal’s death, which took place at his home 
in Branchville, Maryland, on October 1, 1916, 
in his seventy-seventh year. From the fact 
that he was an honorary member of the 
Cooper Ornithological Club, and in view of 
his accomplishments in economic ornitholo- 
gy, it is fitting that a short review of Pro- 
fessor Beal’s work in California appear in 
The Condor at this time. 
