U4 
THE CONDOR 
| Vol. VII 
r HE CONDOR 
An Illustrated Magazine of Western 
Ornithology 
Published Bi-monthly by the Coope.r 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 July 15, 1905 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
Price in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and U. S'. 
Colonies one dollar a year; single copies twenty-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. 
NOTES AND NEWS 
The attention of readers, who may not have 
seen the previous notice, is called to the fact 
that the present issue is being printed during 
the latter part of May. Consequently articles 
and notices which are sent later will not appear 
until September. For several reasons the Sep- 
tember issue may be a few days late, but it is 
not likely to be much behind time. 
‘If nothing happens’ the editorial sanctum 
will be in a tent at Camp Agassiz after June 
15. To those who have been fortunate enough 
to spend longer or shorter periods with “the 
best camper of them all" — Mr. William W. 
Price, affectionately- known as Billy to his 
nearer friends — further words on our part will 
be superfluous. But I fear there are many 
Cooper Club people who have not tasted the 
joys of Lake Tahoe, Glen Alpine, Mt. Tallac, 
and Desolation Valley. This region, lying 
just southwest of Lake Tahoe, is one of the 
wildest and most picturesque of the whole 
Sierra Nevada, and strangely enough is the 
most accessible. It was swept by glaciers in 
times past so that the mountains are wonder- 
fully sculptured and diverse, and the forests 
open. Within easy walking distance of camp 
are a dozen peaks from eight to ten thousand 
feet high, and forty-four lakes — thirty, by the 
way, with trout. The camp itself is in a wide 
glacier gorge, and a huge glacier-rounded 
knuckle of rock, jutting from the hillside near- 
by, forms the "Council Rock" remembered by 
everyone who has visited the camp. For 
those who are interested in mountain sports or 
alpine natural history there is no region in 
California that can approach this. Till Sep- 
tember 1 letters to the editor may be sent to 
Camp Agassiz, Tai,i,ac, California, or to 
Palo Alto. 
Mr. Grinnell writes that he will visit the 
higher parts of the San Bernardino Mountains 
this summer, and of course will be out of reach 
of mail for a considerable portion of the time. 
Notices of the Fourth International Orni- 
thological Congress to be held at London, June 
12 to 17, have been received. Members of the 
General Committee for the United States are 
Drs. Allen, Richmond and Stejneger and 
Messrs. Chapman, Elliot, and Ridgway. 
Messrs. Finley and Bohlman started the lat- 
ter part of May for the Klamath region of 
southern Oregon, where they will spend some 
time in photographing and studying the 
water birds which still teem in the marshes. 
In speaking of this locality a few extracts from a 
letter by Mr. Elmer I. Applegate of Klamath 
Falls ma}’ be of interest: 
“Since the settlement of the Klamath 
country there have been some marked changes 
in the frequency of species, length of their 
visits, etc. For example, the common valley 
quail, formerly rare, is becoming much more 
abundant as the grain area of the region in- 
creases. During the winter, every- cattle feed- 
yard supports flocks of them. They come to 
our yards each winter in increasing numbers 
where they feed with the cattle and have be- 
come almost domesticated. On the other hand, 
most water birds have greatly decreased in 
numbers. Encroachment upon their nesting 
and feeding grounds by stock, and wholesale 
slaughter by market hunters accounts for this, 
I think. Many wagon-loads of ducks go to the 
San Francisco markets during the winter 
months. Until the price of grebe skins be- 
came so low as to make the business unprofit- 
able, tens of thousands of them were shipped 
out annually, threatening extermination. 
Years ago myriads of water fowl nested in the 
marshes about Swan Lake — ducks, terns, cur- 
lews, plovers, rails, various kind of snipe, etc. 
Now comparatively few nests can be found 
during the season. Sage hens are not nearly- 
so numerous as formerly, and sharp-tailed 
grouse are rare. I have not seen a swan for 
several years. I don’t know why- there should 
be so few Clarke crows left. I can remember 
when the lower pine woods and juniper ridges 
were full of the noisy fellows. Pelicans, fish- 
hawks, cormorants, bald eagles and so on seem 
to be as plentiful as ever." 
Our readers will remember that this was one 
of the early collecting grounds of the late 
Major Charles E. Bendire. 
Mr. H. T. Clifton writes that Mr. W. Lee 
Chambers has left for the Bradshaw Mts., Ariz. 
We have delayed our reviews so long that we 
inadvertantly have failed to note in these col- 
umns Mr. Taylor’s Standard American Egg 
Catalogue, Second Edition. Doubtless most 
of our readers are already familiar with it. Mr. 
Tay-lor has taken great pains to provide a cat- 
alogue giving the exchange values of eggs of 
North American birds, The list is prefaced by- 
"Oological” by Taylor. F. M. Dille also con- 
tributes some "Ideas." "The exchange basis 
is worked out as consistently as possible, com- 
bining the views of many experienced collect- 
ors, and the prices, which are relative, are 
aimed to promote as far as possible equitable 
