54 
THE CONDOR 
| Voe. VII 
THE CONDOR. 
An Illustrated Magazine, of Western 
Ornithology 
Published Bi-monthly by the Cooper Ornithologi- 
cal Club of California 
WALTER. K. FISHER., Editor, Palo Alto 
JOSEPH GRINNELL, Business Manager and 
Associate Editor, Pasadena 
R. E. SNODGRASS, WILLIAM L. FINLEY, 
Associate Editors 
Palo Alto, California: Published March 17, 1905 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
Price in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and U. S. 
Colonies one dollar a year; single copies twentv-five cents. 
Price in all countries in the International Postal Union 
one dollar and a quarter a year. 
Subscriptions should be sent to the Business Manager; 
manuscripts and exchanges to the Editor. 
EDITORIAL NOTES 
A FTER two trials at bird protection legisla- 
tion the state of California has apparently 
succeeded in enacting a law. A copy of the bill, 
which was drawn up by !\lr. Charles Vogelsang 
of the State Game and Fish Commission, with 
amendments suggested by Dr. T. S. Palmer of 
the U. S. Biological Survey, is printed below. 
The measure was introduced into the Senate by 
Senator John G. Mattos and into the Assembly 
by Assemblyman E. K. Strobridge. At the Jan- 
uary meeting of the Club the bill was read by 
Mr. Emerson, and after some discussion was en- 
dorsed by the Club. The clause permitting the 
owner or tenant of any premises to kill birds in 
the act of destroying crops or fruits growing on 
the premises is certainly susceptible to grave 
abuse, but the amendment prohibiting the sale of 
such birds will undoubtedly do something to 
check undue liberties. This clause, and the 
absence of any specfic mention of poison or poi- 
soned water was considerably discussed at the 
meeting referred to, and later. It seemed best, 
in view of the fact that these are the very rocks 
upon which the first bill — that of the Cooper 
Club in 1901 — was wrecked, to concede the 
points. Another bill was in the field at the 
time but was later withdrawn by its promoters, 
About four years ago those who were active 
in securing the passage of the Cooper Club bill 
were rejoicing in the anticipation that it would 
become a law. But there’s many a slip as they 
found out, for the governor did not see fit to 
add his essential signature. Since then consid- 
erable work in educating the people has been 
done by the U. S. Biological Survey, through 
bulletins, and especially by the presence of Prof. 
Beal in the state for parts of two years. Un- 
doubtedly a large part of the change of senti- 
ment has been due also to the national move- 
ment towards protecting beneficial birds. Dur- 
ing the past year the California Audubon Soci- 
ety has been indefatigable in spreading its 
propaganda among the people, with desirable 
results. Last, and we believe not least, the 
widening influence of the Cooper Club through 
its representative membership has also helped 
to turn the balance. 
In the immediate work of securing the pas- 
sage of the bill Mr. Vogelsang, Senator Mattos, 
Assemblyman Strobridge and Mr. Emerson 
have been especially active and these gentlemen 
certainly deserve the thanks of everyone for 
their public-spirited efforts. Doubtless there 
were many others who aided also in lobbying 
the measure. Their reward should be the con- 
sciousness of well-doing! 
A copy of the bill follows; 
The people of the State of California , repre- 
sented in senate and assembly , do enact as fol- 
lows: 
Section i. Section six hundred and thirty- 
seven of the Penal Code of the State of Califor- 
nia, is hereby amended to read as follows: 
637 a. Every person who, in the State of 
California, shall at any time hunt, shoot at, 
pursue, take, kill or destroy, buy, sell, give 
away, or have in his possession, except upon a 
written permit, from the board of fish commis- 
sioners of the State of California, for the pur- 
pose of propagation or for education or scientific 
purposes, any meadow lark, or any wild bird, 
living or dead, or any part of any dead wild 
bird, or who shall rob the nest, or take, sell, or 
offer for sale, or destroy the eggs of any meadow 
lark or of any wild bird, is guilty of a misde- 
meanor; provided , that nothing in this section 
shall prohibit the killing of a meadow lark or 
other wild bird by the owner or tenant of any 
premises where such bird is found of destroying 
berries, fruits or crops growing on such 
premises, but the birds so killed shall not be 
shipped or sold. The English sparrow, sharp- 
shinned hawk, Cooper’s hawk, duck hawk, 
great horned owl, bluejay, house finch (known 
also as the California linnet), and all birds 
otherwise protected by the provisions of this 
code and those birds commonly known as game 
birds, are not included among the birds pro- 
tected by this section. 
Although Governor Pardee has not yet signed 
the bill be believe it very unlikely that he will 
consider it unfavorably. At any rate let us 
hope that this will not be another “slip”. 
T HE series of portraits of eminent European 
ornithologists, announced in the Januarv 
issue, is opened with likenesses of Dr. Philip 
Lutlev Sclater, Dr. Jean Cabanis, Mr. Howard 
Saunders and Victor Ritter von Tschusi zu 
Schmidhoffen. Dr. Sclater, perhaps the most 
widely known ornithologist living, has for 
many years been the secretary of the Zoological 
Society of London and editor of 7 he Ibis. His 
researches have been chiefly concerned with 
Neotropical birds, upon which he has published 
a formidable list of papers. The bibliography 
of his published writings (Bull. U. S. Nat. 
Mus. No. 49, 1896) lists 1239 titles, to which 
many have been added during the last decade. 
Up to that time he had characterized 1067 new 
