Sept., 1909 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
175 
THE CONDOR 
An Illustrated Magazine 
of Western OrnitHolog'y 
Publisht Bi-Monthly by the Cooper Ornithola^i 
cal Club of California. 
JOSEPH GRINNELL. Editor, - Berkeley. Cal. 
J. EVGENE LAW. Business Manager, Hollywood, Cal. 
W. LEE CHAMBERS, Business Manager, Santa 
Monica, Cal. 
WILLIAM L. FINLEY 1 . . „ _ 
ROBERT B. ROCKWELL J Assoc,a - le Ed,,ors 
Hollywood, California: Publisht Soot. 15, 1909 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
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Thirty Cents the single copy. 
One Dollar and Seventy-five Cents per Year in all other 
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Claims for missing or imperfect numbers should be 
made within thirty days of date of issue. 
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for review should be sent to the Editor. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
As Condor readers make use of the Ten- 
Year Index, they are sure to run across errors. 
We hope errors are few, but it is safe to say 
there was never yet publisht a perfect index or 
catalog. The compiler of our Index, Mr. H. 
B. Kaeiling, proposes to issue an errata-slip, to 
be mailed to all members and subscribers. And 
to the end that this may approach completeness, 
he invites everyone to send to the Editor of 
this magazine a memorandum of whatever 
errors have been found, whether one or many. 
As announced by our Business Manager on 
inside back cover of present issue, Cooper Club 
members are entitled to space in The Condor 
to use in letting their wants be known in the 
line of exchanging books, photos or specimens. 
We hope this feature of our magazine will be 
recognized, and made use of. 
We assume the privilege of quoting the fol- 
lowing passages of general interest, from a per- 
sonal letter (dated August 20) from Dr. Chas. 
W. Richmond, Acting Curator of Birds in the 
United States National Museum at Washington: 
“We are going over the new building next 
week ! After living for 20 odd years on this 
gallery, we are about to move into new quarters, 
where all of our collections can be brought to- 
gether. When the Division of Birds was moved 
from the old South Tower (five flights up from 
the ground) to its present quarters, our catalogs 
had about 95,000 entries, and the collections 
were all contained in cases on the gallery, ex- 
cept the large species which were stored in the 
basement. Since that time we have expanded 
until the eggs occupied one room (in 70 cases) 
in a far corner of the “old” Museum building; 
the Picarian and some other groups filled a 
room in the north tower of the Smithsonian 
building; and the waders, water birds, game 
birds, and other large birds filled the west base- 
ment. Our catalog entries now run up into the 
212,000’s, meaning that we have received over 
one hundred thousand specimens in this time. 
In a few weeks we will have all our material 
together, including about 12,000 duplicates 
which have been in storage for several years. 
We are very much elated over the occasion !” 
And naturally enough. We offer congratula- 
tions not only to those immediately connected 
with the National Museum, but to ornitholo- 
gists in general. For our national collection 
of birds is by far the most important one, as 
far as America is concerned, in existence, as it 
has been used most widely. Its adequate hous- 
ing has been a desideratum for many years; 
and now that this is accomplisht, the accessi- 
bility and consequent value to bird people at 
large becomes still greater. 
A correspondent in another column of this 
issue describes a publisht Code of Colors which 
it is urged is an improvement in its method of 
designation over that employed by Ridgway in 
bis widely used “Nomenclature of Colors.” 
We have just secured a copy of the new work 
in question. Its sole point of superiority, to 
our mind, lies in the much greater number of 
tints and shades presented. But their designa- 
tion by number is certainly not an advantage. 
For a color description would only be compre- 
hensible in the presence of the Code itself, un- 
less a person had had long enough experience 
with it to remember the color-groups by num- 
ber. “Lavender” brings to one’s mind a more 
vivid realization of the tint so called, than 
“496”! So with russet (=“103”); sea green 
(=“382”); orange-vermillion ( = “81”); etc. 
Of course the new system could be mastered. 
And it might lead to more exact color-definition 
in scientific descriptions. But at the same 
time it would render these descriptions useless 
to the multitude of amateurs who, as a rule, 
would not bother to secure a copy of the key. 
We still hope for an enlarged nomenclature 
of colors, after the style of Ridgway ’s. We 
have heard a rumor to the effect that Ridgway, 
himself, is at work on a new and improved ed- 
ition of his book. This would be ideal. If an 
American nomenclature does not materialize 
shortly, we will have to use the Frenchman’s 
“Code des Couleurs”; for the few copies of 
Ridgway’s old “Nomenclature of Colors” ac- 
cessible are just about worn out; and, as pre- 
viously hinted, fading is feared. 
A useful feature of our magazine is the pub- 
lication from year to year of the “Directory of 
Members of the Cooper Ornithological Club", 
as in the present issue. Members who see 
where corrections should be made, should in- 
form us accordingly, so that our card list can 
be kept up to date, preparatory for next year's 
Directory. 
