152 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
Game Birds and Game Fishes of the 
Pacific Coast. Illustrated with Half 
Tones from Photographs of Live and Care- 
fully Mounted Birds and Fishes. By H. 
T. Payne. News Publishing Company, Los 
Angeles, California. Pp. 186, 67 full-page 
illustrations. “Copyrighted 1913”; our copy 
received January 21, 1914. 
Under this title has recently appeared a 
small book by a well-known sportsman of 
Los Angeles, H. T. Payne. In his introduc- 
tion Mr. Payne states that “unlike most 
works treating of the birds and fishes, this 
one is written from the standpoint of the 
practical sportsman and angler, rather than 
tor the student of ornithology or ichthyol- 
ogy.” Even with this excuse it is doubtful 
if the sportsman reader will overlook a num- 
her of things which certainly “jar” the stu- 
dent of birds. First, however, let us enum- 
erate some of the commendable features of 
the hook. 
The frontispiece is a drawing of a duck 
with all parts labeled, together with a cor- 
ner drawing illustrating the different meas- 
urements usually taken. The author has 
therefore been careful' to use the type of 
bird about which the book largely treats 
rather than using the outline drawing of a 
song bird so often employed for this pur- 
pose. 
The text is divided into two parts: “The 
game birds of the Pacific coast”, and “The 
game fishes of the Pacific coast”. The 
birds occupy the greater part of the book. 
Under each species heading is given two or 
three paragraphs on the distribution and 
habits of the species followed by the sub- 
headings: color, nest and eggs, measure- 
ments. Occasional, personal hunting notes, 
and suggestions as to methods in hunting, 
are also to be found. Tables giving the 
scientific name, common name, range, and 
breeding grounds are appended “for ready 
reference”. 
The illustrations are photographic repro- 
ductions of stuffed specimens with a 
painted-in background. This type of illus- 
tration distresses the eye when we only 
have to turn to other books to find reproduc- 
tions of the same birds taken in the wild. 
The author evidently used the A. O. U. 
Checlc-list for 1895, for he makes the follow- 
ing statement: “With the one exception of 
the California Valley Quail I have followed 
the plan of the American Ornithologists’ 
Union. In this exception I have followed 
such good authorities as Bonaparte, Elliot, 
Ridgway, and Gambel, and given the Cali- 
fornia Valley Quail the generic name of 
LopJwrtyx. instead of classing them with 
the Callipepla. to which belong the scaled 
quail, a species with no distinction between 
the sexes.” 
Such unfounded statements as the fol- 
lowing one about the Mourning Dove, which 
so often go the rounds among sportsmen, 
are in evidence: “A large number of these 
birds begin their nesting season in the 
mountains at altitudes of from 2000 to 4000 
feet, raising one brood at that height, then 
moving down and nesting again, and mov- 
ing again until they reach the lower val- 
leys, where they remain all winter, congre- 
gating in certain places in flocks of hun- 
dreds.” 
The editorial work is extremely poor. 
Innumerable misspelled words, poor gram- 
mar, headings transposed and upside down, 
etc., are to be found throughout the book. 
By looking on the cover the reader wiM re- 
ceive the real staggering blow; for marked 
in good-sized type is: Price $1.50 Net. A 
book 4% by 7 inches, of 186 pages, printed 
on cheap paper, cheaply bound, and poorly 
edited, for one dollar and a half! Maybe 
the sportsman is willing to pay that much 
for such a book, but it certainly did not cost 
a third of that amount. — H. C. Bryant. 
MINUTES OF COOPER CLUB 
MEETINGS, 
southern division 
Ferruary. — The regular meeting of the 
Southern Division was held at the Museum 
of History, Science, and Art, Los Angeles, 
Thursday evening, February 26, 1914. In 
the absence of the president, Vice-president 
Robertson took the chair. The attendance 
was as follows: Mrs. Frances M. Harmon 
and Miss Myrtle Johnson, and Messrs. 
Chambers, Daggett, Dawson, Edwards, Eg- 
gleston, Esterly, Grey, Howell, Jewett, 
Lamb, Miller, Morcom, Robertson, Snyder, 
Swarth, Willett, Wyman, and Zahn. Visit- 
ors present were, Mrs. H. S. Swarth, and 
the Misses Olive W. Kelso, Harriett S. 
King, Gertrude B. Peirson, Mabel B. Peir- 
son, and Lucy Youse. 
The minutes of the January meeting were 
read and approved, followed by the North- 
ern Division minutes for February. New 
members elected were: Mrs. Minerva J. 
Fargo, Miss Etta V. Little, Miss Helen 
Powell, Miss Ada Wilson, and Messrs. 
Luther Little, L. R. Reynolds, and C. G. 
Stivers. One new name was presented, Mr. 
George W. Lane, Morganhiil, California, 
proposed by J. Grinnell. The resignation of 
Lionel H. Duschak was read and accepted. 
A letter was read, received by Mr. Law 
from Professor J. N. Bowman, secretary of 
