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 234' THE CONDOR Vol. XVIII THE CONDOR A lfaazlne of reste1'n Ornltholog Publlshed B-Mont b the Cooper Ornitholic Club ]. GRINNELL, Editor HAZY S. SWARTH, Ansiate Editor ]. EUGENE LAW Bufiness Mers W. LEE CHAMBERS Hollywood, California: Publishod Nov. 29, 1916 $UD$CRIPTION RATES One Dollar and Fift Cents per Year in the United States, payable in advance. T!drty Cnts the single copy. One Dollar and Seventy*five Cents per Year in all other countries in the International Postal Union. COOPER CLUB DUES Two Dollars per year for members residing in the United States. Two Dollars and Twenty-five Cents in all other countries. Manuscripts for publication, and Books and Papers for Review, should be sent to the Editor, J. Grinnell, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley, California. Claims for missing or imperfect numbers should be made of the Business Manager, as addressed below, within thirty days of date of issue. Cooper Club Dues, Subscriptions to The Condor, and Exchanges, should be sent to the Business Manager. Adverthin Rates on application to the Business Manager Address W. Lee Chambers, Business Manager, Iagle Rock, Los Angeles County, California. EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS Editorial acknowledgment is hereby made to Mr. $. R. Pemberton 'for his efficient ser- vice in compiling the Index which concludes the current volume of THE CONDOR. TWO Californians went East to attend the American Ornithologists' Union congress held in Philadelphia this year, Mr. Joseph MalIliard and Mr. J. Eugene Law. A wire (November 13) has come from the former, announcing the election to Fellowship, of Mr. Harry S. Swarth. This is a well-de- served recognition of the high grade of Mr. Swarth's systematic work on Western birds. The number of Fellows in the A. O. U. is restricted to fifty. There are now six A. O. U. Fellows residing west of the Mississippi. The Ibis for April contains an article of unusual worth, by C. F. M. Swynnerton, on the coloration of the mouths and eggs of birds. The significance in some cases seems to be clearly that of warning, there being an accompaniment of bright color or conspicuous pattern with disagreeable taste or odor, such as is proven to discourage at- tention from potential enemies. Thus the older idea of a directire meaning must in part be supplanted. Here is a line of obser- vation well worth taking up by field ornith- ologists in America. Alice Hall Walter, in the school depart- ment of September Bird-Lore, utters some timely warnings in regard to current meth- ods of popularizing bird study. She has clearly perceived an unfortunate tendency which can only be counteracted by. repeated warnings such as she sounds. The trend of her remarks is indicated by the following quotations. "The superficial student, inter- ested only in. the popular side of ornithol- ogy, is apt to shun the trained ornitholo- gist's method, to balk at his standard of thoroughness .... To be unable to con- centrate one's attention upon a single prob- lem which may be solved by careful ob- servation" is a serious defect, "resulting in- evitably in a lowered standard and a cir- cumscribed acquaintance with bird-life." Whenever this kind of bird-study "tends to a sentimental, inaccurate and uninspirecl con- ception of the place of birds in nature and their value to man, it deserves the criticism of having degenerated into a study which cannot hold a secure place . . . " in schools or anywhere else, and is no longer worth encouraging. The death of Lteutenant-olonel E. Alex- ander Mearns took place at Washington, D. C., on November 1, in the 61st year of his age. Mearns is known to. western ornitholo- . gists more especially through his field work along the Mexican boundary. Many valua- ble articles on southwestern birds have.ap- peared from his pen. F. E. L. BEAL AND ECONOMIC ORNITH- OLOGY IN CALIFORNIA Our present knowledge of the food habits of California birds is in a large measure due to the painstaking work of Foster Ellenbor- ough Lascelles Beal, Assistant, United States Biological ,Survey, who for many years devoted considerable attention to the economic relations of the birds of this State. The extent and importance of this work is emphasized anew by the news of Professor Beal's death, which took place at his home in Branchville, Maryland, on October 1, 1916, in his seventy-seventh year. From the fact that he was an honorary member of the Cooper Ornithological Club, and in view of his accomplishments in economic ornitholo- gy, it is fitting that a short review of Pro- fessor Beal's work in California appear in THE CONDOR at this time.