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 THE CONDOR VOL. VIII meadowlark's nest with {ull complement of eggs, near Los Angeles, on February 7, this being by nearly a month the earliest nesting date of the species for this locality. Doubleday, Page & Company, of New York, will shortly issue an illustrated book on west- ern bird-life from the pen and camera of Mr. Win. L. Finley. The book will be written in a popular vein, and will consist of intimate camera and note-book studies of certain com- mon birds that the everyday observer is liable to meet with. Mr. Finley has met with de- cided success in his lecture and magazine work, and we are confident that his book will be received as enthusiastically. We un- derstand, moreover, that there will follow in course of a year or so a much more pretentious volume dealing in a scientific way with the life-historles of the rarer birds of the Pacific Coast. This will occupy a place in our orni- thological literature as yet wholly vacant, and all Cooper Club members should lend every aid in their power to Messrs. Finley and Bohlman in their field-work with the camera. Mr. H. R. Taylor has recently secured by purchase the entire oological collection of Rev. J. M. Carroll of Waco, Texas, together with cabinets, trays and "good will." The latter gentleman finds it necessary to devote his time to a field of activity which will proba- bly cause his removal from Waco. The col- lection is an exceptionally fine one well pre- pared, and with some "great" variations in the series. Mr. Taylor now owns probably the most extensive oological collection on the coast. Mr. Wilmot W. Brown, Jr., of Cambridge, Mass., is in southern California for a few month's collecting, having just returned from a successful trip into the Yaqui country of Sonora. He intends to visit some of the Santa Barbara Islants, and if a suitable vessel can be chartered, Guadalupe Island off the Lower California coast. Mr. Brown is famous for his many years of field work in South America, where he has discovered over IOO species of birds, and a great many new mam- mals. By dint of extreme courage and energy he has penetrated into the most remote dis- tricts, discovering such remarkable novelties as the white-tailed hummingbird, from the Santa Marta region, figured in a colored plate in the April, i899, /u/. Mr. Brown's work is pursued wholly thru his love of collecting, tho he works partly in the interests of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, and of Mr. Outram Bangs, the latter gentleman pub- lishing most of the results. A party of students from the biological de- partment of Throop Institute, Pasadena, will spend the spring vacation in the San Gabriel Canyon near Azusa. A base camp will be es- tablished, and a region of known area within a short radius will be as thoroly and re- peatedly canvassed as time permits, so as to obtain a census of the bird population. From this it is hoped to get an approximate esti- mate of the numbers of individuals of each characteristic species in the foot-hill district of Los Angeles County. We have heard again from lialcolm P. An- derson who is in Asia collecting natural history material for the British Museum. He has just finished. a trip thru Korea where much of terest in the line of mammals was obtained. A paper is about to appear in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, dealing with Mr. Anderson's two years' work in Japan. Altho longing to return to the United States, Mr. Anderson says he expects to remain abroad a year or two longer. Mr. Carroll Scott of the Southern Division, C. O. C., has located for the year at a Nevada mining camp I6 miles southeast of Searchlight. In spite of its being an extremely desert re- gion, Mr. Scott has found much of interest in his surroundings, including 33 species of birds. Several of the latter are of peculiar interest, such as the Leconte thrasher and Scott oriole. The Club will expect a full report upon this remote region as soon' after Mr. Scott's return as he has time to work up his notes and mate- rial. George F. Breninger, widely known as a col- lector and taxidermist, died Dec. 3, 9o5, at Pheenix, Arizona. The cause of his death was paralysis which resulted directly from arsenic poisoning incurred while preparing specimens. We have been informed by Mrs. Breninger that his library and collections are for sale. Minutes of Club Meetings SOUTIIERN DIVISION JANU^R.--The annual meeting of the Southern Division was held January 25, 9o6, at the home of Mr. H. J. Lelande, in Los Angeles, with eighteen members present. Applications for membership from Bradshaw H. Swales, of Detroit, Mich., and Olga S. Tar- bell, of Pasadena, Cal., were presented, and the resignation of Edmund M. Hayden was ac- cepted. The election of officers for 9o6, resulted in the election of: O. W. Howard, President; W. B. Judson, Vice-President; J. Eugene Law, Sec- retary; W. Lee Chambers, Treasurer. A motion thanking Mr. Clifton, the retiring Secretary, for his untiring efforts in the inter- ests of the Club was enthusiastically carried, and Mr. Clifton thanked the Club for its as- sistance in responding with papers and places for meetings. Mr. Lelande gave a short resume of the observations at the October Outing meeting, and named 47 varieties of birds observed in the vicinity of Newhall in the two days outing. After this, the Club adjourned to the dining room to a very sumptuous spread, which met with universal approval and a hearty vote of thanks from all present. J. EUGENE LAV , Secretary.