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 100 THE CONDOR VOL. X thological chat that occupied the evening be- fore and after business. Adjourned. J. EUGENE LAW, Secrelary. JANUARY.--The January meeting of the Southern Division met with Dr. F. M. Palmer in his offices at 371 Huntington Building, Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday evening, January 30, t908, with members L. A. Test, C. O. Esterly, los. Grinnell, O.W. Howard, H. T. Clifton, Willard Chamberlain, Howard Wright, Arthur Howard, Wilson C. Hanna, Chas. H. Richard- son, Jr., C. E. Cosper, C. B. Linton, Lester Black, W. Lee Chambers, Virgil Owen and J. E. Law present. In the absence of the President and Vice-President, Mr. Clifton was made chairman for the evening. On motion by Mr. Cosper, seconded by Mr. Owen and duly carried, the Secretary was in- strutted to cat the unaninmus ballot of those present electing Miss Myrtle E. Johnson, National City, Cal., Mr. Lester Black, Long Beach, Cal., and Mr. Pingtee I. Osburn, Pasa- dena, Cal., o active membership, and Mr. W. M. Peterson, Neah Bay, to active membership subject to the approvM of the Club-at-large. The ,following applications were .presented for acti.ve membershi. p: Arthur deC. Lower.ly, Anglo-Chinese College, Tientsin, China, by Malcol.m P. Anderson; Alfred Brazier Howell, Catonsville, Maryland, by H. W. Marsden; and J. M. Davis, 1438 Seventh Street, Eureka, Cal., by H. F. Duprey. On motion duly carried, the resignations of Mr. W. Scott Way and Mr. E. Crawford May were aocepted, their dues having ,been paid to date. Two interesting letters from Malcolm P. Anderson, now collecting in China, were read, telling of his successes and ,haxdshi.ps in that field. Dr. Iv. M. Palmer in a ,short talk outlined .the plans for a <listinctly southwestern museum in southern California. This plan has progressed so far that a site .comprising something over ,35 acres has been purchased and largely .paid fr. The A.rcheological Society already has as a nucleus for this museum its very fi.ne col- lection of archeological specimens, -many of which are almost unique, and are of .great scientific-value. Dr. Palmer suggested the cooperation of the Cooper Or. nithological Club in the directing and .establishing of the orni- thological branch of the museum, and hoped that in some way not yet figured out, this might be accomplished. On motion by Mr. Grinnell, seconded by Mr. Owen and duly carried, the chairman was instructed to appoint a commit- tee of thre, to consider these sugRestions and report at a future meeting. Messrs. Grinnell, O. W. Howard and Law were appointed as this committee. Mr. Grinnell then gave us a brief outline of his recent trip of inspection thru the eastern museums. In a trip covering five weeks in December and January, he visited the Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston Museums, and met a large number of the ornithologists of these centers. An hour went quickly in this rapid outline, and we were given "inside touches" on all these museums. Of special interest were the ac- counts of the Field Museum, The American Museum of Natural History, and the Thayer Museum. Adjourned. J. EUGENE LAw, Secretary.. FEBRUAR.--The February meeting was called to order by President Morcom at Faculty Room, Throop Polytechnic Institute, Pasadena, Cal., Thursday evening, February 20, 1908, with members John Lewis Childs, O. W. How- ard, Geo. Willett, Jos. Grinnell, Loye Holmes Miller, L. A. Test, C. O. Esterly, H. T. Clifton, C. B. Linton, C. E. Cosper, Walter Taylor, Chas. Richardson, Jr., Howard Wright, Pingtee I. Osburn, Chas. W. Metz, Willard Chamberlain and J. E. Law present, and as visi- tor Mr. W. S. Wright of Pasadena. The minutes of the December, 1907, and January, 1908, meetings were read and ap- proved. On motion by Mr. Willett, seconded by Mr. Cosper and duly carried, the Secretary was in- strutted to cast the unanimous ballot of those present, electing to active membership subject to the approval of the Club-at-large, Alfred Brazier Howell, Catonsville, Maryland, and J. M. Davis, Eureka, Cal. Mr. Childs gave a short talk in which he ex- pressed his interest in the activity of the Cooper Club and his pleasure at being able to meet with it from time to time. Mr. Grinnell read a paper on certain prob- lems of bird population, calling the Club's at- tention to the comparative stability in numbers, . e., that apparently the death rate equaled the birth rate. This, he showed by illustrations and observations, was primarily due to food supply conditions, and that apparently any given species was limited in numbers to those that could find food supply in the season of least food production. In other words, any given locality held as many individuals as could exist in that region in the period of least abundance of the particular food the individ- uals lived on, and that in this season of least abundance, the bird population of any given species is reduced to the awerage number thru the death of those members not able to com- pete in the strife for existence. Mr. Grinnell suggested that the Club acquaint itself meanwhile with, and at the next meeting discuss, Prof. F. E. L. Beal's re- cent paper on the "Birds of California in Re- lation to the Fruit Industry." Adjourned. J. EvC. ENE LAw, Secretary.