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 174 THE CONDOR VoL. VI THE CO[NDOP An Illusfrafod Maazino of Wosforn Ornifholo Published Bl-monhly by fhe Cooper Ornifholoi- eal Club Of California WALTEI K. FIIHEI, Edlfor, Palo Alfo JOIEPH GIIIIELL, Business Manaler and Assoelafe Editor, Pasadena P. E. IODGPA, Assoeiafe Editor Palp Alfo, California: Published 1ov. ! ?, ! 904. Price in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and U.S. olonies one dollar a year; single copies twenty-five cents. Price in all countries in the International Postal Union one dollar and a quarter a year. Subscriptions should be sent to the Business Manager; manuscripts and exchanges to the Editor. NOTES AND NEWS At the regular meeting held in Oakland, November 5, the following nominations were made for officers for i9o5: president, Mr. Jos- eph Mailliard; first vice-president, Mss Helen Swett; second vice-president, Prof. J.O. Sny- der; treasurer and business manager, Mr. Jos- eph Grinnell; secretary, Mr. Chas. S. Thompson. With this issue volume six is completed. Club members and subscribers will confer a great favor if they remit their dues or subscriptions promptly to the business nmnager. We have some plans for further improving THE CONDOR, and any great delay on the part of our constitu- ents in remembering the year-end obligation is a trifle embarrassing--to us at least. In his review of the July .4 u/ in October ird- Lore, Dr. J. Dwight, Jr. takes exception to the admittance of 'Baird sparrow' and 'Virginia warbler' to the pages of the /u/, instead of the possessive case being used. "Evolution," writes Dr. Dwight, "may some day eliminate the 's' as unfit, but except in geography it is still customary to write English as 'she is wrote.'" Undoubtedly the omission of the possessive torre in personal names, given in the sense of dedication, will long remain a matter of personal opinion and preference. Dr. Dwight is in error, however, in supposing that the elimination of the possessive is restricted to geographical names. Some botanists, at least, employed the form before it was introduced into ornithology, and such names as Douglas spruce, Torrey pine, Fraser fir, Jeffrey pine, Parry pinyon, Sargent palm,Bebb willow,Bartram oak, and others ad lib[turn are now in current use. As has often been stated, the sparrow was dedicated to Spencer F. Baird, and the useof his name was never meant to express or imply any proptie- tary rights over the species or the individuals thereof. If it is proper and natural to omit the possessive form in the case of mountains, rivers, trees and flowers, is it not logical to extend the usage to birds and other animals? It was this fact, and a desire to write English as 'she is wrote,' that influenced this journal to advo- cate a general adoption of the non-possessive form, shortly after Dr. Merriam introduced it into ornithological literature, in North Ameri- can Fauna No. x6 (I899). At any rate it is per- haps interesting to consider how differently two persons may interpret the same text. Through the kindness of Dr. Jordan the Club has been granted the privilege of placing its books and magazines on the shelves of the Bar- bara Jordan Library of Ornithology at Stanford University. This library, which is dedicated to the memory of Barbara Jordan "who knew and loved the birds," occupies one of the rooms on the first floor of the new Zoology building. The room is perfectly lighted and is provided with numerous working tables, while along one side are the handsomely carved book shelves. the center of these, above, is a bronze tablet of dedication, with a family of quails in bas-relief. Immediately below is a cabinet containing Bar- baraJordan's collection of birds. The room is used by advanced students of ornithology, and is one of the pleasantest in the splendid new building. The annual meeting, January x4, will be somewhat different from those of former years, in that it will be held in one of the good res- taurants of San Francisco. The Club will have a large room to itself and it is hoped that, in view of the occasion. and place, a goodly number of our members will make a special effort to attend. We will convene for dinner at 8 and afterwards have the annual meeting and social good time. Probably it will be advisable to have a short business meeting before the din- ner. Members will be notified about two or three weeks before the meeting and will be asked to respond whether they intend to be present. The committee earnestly desires that members cooperate to make this "the best meeting yet." Although all the returns are not yet in it seems probable that the amendment to the Constitution of California, exempting the Cali- foruiaAcademy of Sciences from taxation, has received a majority of favorable votes. In volume six there are seventy halftone il- lustrations which is a substantial gain over forty-three in volume five and thirty-two in volume four. The majority of illustrations during the past year have been such that we can point to them with pardonable pride. But just watch for the January number[ The Twenty-second Congress of the Ameri- [can Ornithologists' Union will convene in Cambridge, Mass., on Tuesday, November 29, x9o4, at xo o'clock A.M. The meetings will be held in the Nash Lecture room, University Museum, Oxford Street. Mr. William L. Finley has gone east to at- tend the meeting.