236 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
ter" Sutton take rank as “Mr.” among the 
trained reporters of bird life. 
The bird biography for this issue is by 
Witmer Stone and is concerned witli the 
Catlhrd. Mr. Stone does his four page stunt 
conscientiously and hits off the character of 
the bird with scientific accuracy as well as 
verbal distinction. The economic homily at 
the end of his treatment is pleasantly sugar- 
ed and his concluding paragraph of apprecia- 
tion leaves us with liearts thoroughly warmed 
towards his hero. 
Stone knows his Catbird. We wish wc 
could say as much for the artist who paints 
him. Bruce Idorsfall’s plate of the “Catbird” 
is just another colored representation of tw<j 
bird-like objects — nothing more. They are 
not “Catbirds." Paint them brown and they 
might pass for languid wrens. Paint them 
green and they would do for Warlilers badly 
stuffed. Candidly now — and however regret- 
fully — one wonders why Horsfall persists in 
trying to paint birds. — W. L. D. 
MINUTES OF COOPER CEUB MEETINGS 
SOUTHERN DIVISION 
October. — The regular monthly meeting of 
the Southern Division was held at the 
Museum of History. Science and Art, Thurs- 
day evening, October 30, wdlh President Law 
111 the chair and the following memhers pre- 
sent : Messrs. Chambers, Daggett, Grey, 
Howell, Judson, Law, Miller, Morcom, Rich, 
.Snyder, Swarth, Van Rossem. Willett, Wood, 
and Wyman. 
The minutes of the last meeting were read 
and approved, followed by the reading of the 
Northern Division minutes for Octolier. The 
following were elected to membership in the 
Club : W'’. C. Bradbury, Denver, Colorado ; J. 
W. Eggleston, Los Angeles ; C. B. Lastreto, 
San Francisco; H. A. Edwards, Los Angeles. 
New names submitted were: Allan J. Stover, 
Corvallis, Oregon, proposed by Geo. F. Sykes ; 
E. F. Pope, Colonesneil, Texas, proposed by 
H. W. Carriger; Amelia Sanborn Allen, 
Berkeley, proposed by J. Grinnell. 
At the request of Mrs. E. H. Husher an- 
nouncement was made that the Mozart 
Theatre, 730 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, 
liad agreed, by an arrangement with the 
Audubon Society, to exhibit moving pictures of 
birds during the last week of each month. 
The action of the Northern Division in re- 
gard to the proposed conservation congress to 
be held in San P'rancisco in 1915 was ratified, 
and the president and secretary of the Soutn- 
ern Division were authorized to sign the let- 
ter which had been drawn up by the Northern 
Division’s committee for transmittal to vari- 
ous institutions and individuals. 
Business disposed of, Mr. Willett enter- 
tained the Club with some of the experiences 
of his past summer’s work in southeastern 
Ala.ska. He exhibited skins of the Dixon 
Rock Ptarmigan and the Alexander Willow 
Ptarmigan, adults and young in summer 
plumage, and also a series of photos taken dur- 
ing the summer. 
i\Ir. Wood told of a disastrous mortalit}- to 
which he found nestling birds subject in the 
late summer in the vicinity of Prescott, 
,\rizona. The blow-fly of the region was found 
laying its eggs on the newly-liatched young, the 
resulting larvae boring under the skin and 
there feeding on the living tiesh. Mocking- 
birds were especially studied, though other 
species also were observed thus afflicted, and 
it seemed to be a common and widespread 
source of suffering to the late hatched broods. 
Mr. Howell spoke briefly of his season’s 
collecting in southeastern Arizona. Ad- 
journed. — H. S. Sw.VRTH, Secretary. 
NORTHERN DIVISION 
August. — A meeting of the .Northern Di- 
vision of the Cooper Ornithological Club was 
held at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 
Berkeley, Cal., on Saturday evening, August 
9, 1913. Vice-president H. C. Bryant pre- 
sided with the following members present : 
Messrs. Boyce, Clarke, Cooper, Emerson, A. 
K. Fisher, W. K. Fisher, J. Grinnell, and 
Storer. Mesdames Allen and Cooper and 
Messrs Belt, Parker, and Martens were 
present as visitors. 
Dr. A. K. Fisher as speaker of the even- 
ing told of some of the work of the 
Biological Survey along the lines of 
economic mammalogy and ornithology. He 
first told of the work being done toward 
checking the increase of harmful rodents and 
of the results obtained in that work. Of par- 
ticular interest to the members of the Club 
were his remarks on the work which is now 
being done in examining the stomachs of 
various species of birds. From these examin- 
ations the Survey has among other things de- 
termined the commoner food plants of the 
game birds and a plan has been formulated 
to establish farms for the propagation of 
these food plants so that the seed may be dis- 
tributed to the various parts of the country. 
By this and other methods it is hoped that 
some of the now transient species may be 
induced to breed in local areas. 
No business was transacted at the meeting. 
Adjourned. — Tracy I. Storer, Secretary. 
September. — The regular monthly meet- 
of the Northern Division of the Cooper Orni- 
thological Club was held in Room 101, East 
Hall, University of California, Berkeley, on 
