July, 1913 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
159 
THE CONDOR 
A. Magazine of 
Western OrnitHology 
Published Bi-Monthly by the 
Cooper Ornitholojlical Club 
J. GRINNELL, Editor, Berkeley. California 
HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor 
J. EVGENE LAW 
W. LEE CHAMBER.S 
Hollywood, Celifornia: Published Hugust 7, 1913 
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EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
The Los Angeles Museum of History, 
Science and Art has recently received from 
Mr. G. Allan Hancock, owner of the La Brea 
Ranch, the exclusive right, for the next two 
years, to exploit the exceedingly valuable and 
interesting deposits of fossils found upon that 
estate. Condor readers will recall the various 
publications of Dr. Loye Holmes Miller deal- 
ing with the birds discovered in these tar 
beds in the excavations of the University of 
California. In the new work now under way, 
begun early in July, a fair proportion of bird 
remains has been found among the more 
abundant large mammals, though so far of no 
species not already recorded by Miller. 
Mr. G. Willett, under the auspices of the 
Biological Survey, spent two weeks during 
June in the vicinity of Roosevelt, Arizona, 
studying conditions on the bird reservation 
at that point. After a brief stay in Los An- 
geles he then departed for Puget Sound on 
a similar mission. From there he goes north 
to inspect certain of the Federal bird reser- 
vations in Alaska. 
A letter was recently received from Joseph 
Dixon, who is a member of an expedition to 
Alaska in the interests of the Museum of 
Comparative Zoology at Harvard. It is dat- 
ed at Dutch Harbor, April 24, and contains 
much of interest, especially as bearing upon 
the conditions under which zoological col- 
lecting is carried on in that region. 
"We are too early for stuff on this side, and 
have had beastly weather all the time, either 
blowing fifty to seventy miles outside, or 
snowing so that we couldn’t feel our way 
when we got close inshore. ... We 
have quite a series of song sparrows, rosy 
finches, and snowflakes, and about fifteen 
ptarmigan. Willow Ptarmigan were still in 
the winter plumage at Glacier Bay and very 
wild, so that we did not get any. Rock 
Ptarmigan . . . were very plentiful (I saw 
about 200 in half an hour) just back of 
Muir’s old cabin at Glacier Bay ... I saw 
more ptarmigan in two minutes than I saw 
in the other two trips to Alaska. We could 
not get within ten miles of this place in 1907. 
There was scarcely any ice in the bay at all 
this time. 
". . . From a collector's standpoint we will 
be restricted in several ways. Our stops 
will be uncertain as to length on account of 
wind and weather, and we will not know if 
we can set traps or not, . . . but on the whole 
we are getting our share of stuff, and al- 
though cramped on board the boat, we have 
more than our share of space. 
“. . . The official photographer has the 
worst time. His films rub when developing, 
and plates freeze solid in the pan when he 
washes them on deck. He has some good 
films now, taken with the moving picture 
camera. 
. . We expect to leave here for Bogos- 
lof Island tomorrow. We had a fine view of 
a smoking volcano on LTnimak Island as we 
came by yesterday. . . . We are planning to 
fix up a drying screen in the galley, as onr 
chests are full.” 
The fact disclosed in the last sentence is 
evidence of results, however unfavorable the 
conditions ! , 
As we go to press the sad news reaches us 
of the death of Henry B. Kaeding, one of 
onr oldest members. Mr. Kaeding passed 
away in Los Angeles early in June. A more 
extended notice will appear in an early issue. 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
The Practical Value oe Birds. By Junius 
Henderson (University of Colorado Bulletin, 
vol. 13, no. 4, 1913, pp. 1-48). 
Most of us are apt to discount a publication 
which contains no original work beyond that 
of compilation. Yet the attractive paper at 
hand entitled “The practical value of birds” 
by Junius Henderson, Professor of Natural 
History and Curator of the Museum in the 
University of Colorado, presents so many ad- 
mirable features that all such criticism is fore- 
stalled. 
After the continued use of the word “eco- 
nomic” in publications of this kind the word 
“practical” found in the title is an acceptable 
