EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 87 Mar., 1916 THE CONDOR A Ma?azine of Western Ornithology Published Bi-Montldy by the Cooper Ornithological Club j. GRINNELL, Editor HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor J. EUGENE LAW ? Bushess Man?ers W. LEE CHAMBERS Hollywood, California: Publishod Mar. 30, 1616 SUBSCRIPTION RATES One Dollar and Fifty Cents per Year in the United States, payable in advance. Thirty Cents the single copy. One I?olhr 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 $tntes. 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. Advertisln? Rates on application to the Business Manager. Address W. Lee Chambers, Business Manager, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles County, California. EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS We believe our readers will find the an- nouncement of Mr. Dawson's new museum project of especial interest not only be- cause of friendship for Mr. Dawson himself and sympathy with any undertaking he may inaugurate, but because of the many poignant suggestions he makes as to the intrinsic value of careful study of birds' eggs and nests. We heartily agree with Mr. Dawson in his vigorous defense of the sci- entific value of the groundwork in oology upon which important research may be based. There is no doubt whatsoever but that the study of birds' eggs may be made to yield very much larger returns than any that have so far been secured. An institution of the sort projected by Mr. Dawson, with rigid adherence to the hitSbest standards of scientific accuracit in both field work and curatorial methods, could not fail to be a wonderfully effective instru- ment in the development of American or- ntthology. Doubtless all Cooper Club mem- bers will join us in extending well wishes for the successful accomplishment of the undertaking. The annual Cooper Club Business Mana- gers' report for 1915 as recently presented to the Club divisions by Messrs. Chambers and Law shows a very gratifying condition of finances. The total receipts for the year amounted to $1581.43, from the follow- ing sources: Dues $894.85; Condor subscrip- tions $186.08; advertising $22.96; sale of back Condors $57.54; sale of Avifaunas $205.00; life memberships $215.00. Ex- penditures were as follows: Printing of Condor $618.53; half-tone cuts $127.38; pay- ments on Avifauna account $631.39; Editor- ial expenses $17.50; Managerial expenses $255.80; Division expenses $56.61; purchase of back numbers of Condor $8.00. On Jan- uary 2, 1915, cash in bank was $221.86; on January 1, 1916, $88.08. As usual at all times there are some bills due to be paid on both Avifauna and Condor accounts, not more in amount, however, than the Mana- gers consider wholly proper. The publica- tion of Avifaunas is considered to be in the nature of an investment upon which through sales at least five per cent per an- num may be confidently expected. THE CONDOR for 1915 contained 252 pages and 78 illustrations, and 1100 copies of each issue were printed. Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 11 was issued in October, with 217 pages and three maps, and the edition was 1500. The Club's membership on January 1, 1916, numbered 561. We have before us the February, 1916, number of Bird-Lore. In perusing the "Six- teenth Christmas Census," which occupies' a large share of this issue, we are led to offer the following comments. These com- ments are based primarily upon those cen- suses emanating from California, with which area we happen to be best acquaint- ed. In scrutinizing certain of these, we cannot help but seriously doubt the identi- fications alleged in quite a number of in- stances; and the question arises as to the real function of the type of census here put on published record. Do they constitute de- pendable records of species, which can be drawn from in studies of geographic distri- bution and migration? Or are they merely the informal output of amateurs, to be con- sidered only as of passing interest, as a sort of incitant to popular activity in bird study ? Undoubtedly, on the latter score, the ap- pearance in print of neighborhood bird lists has a stimulating effect; people like the competitive idea. If this is all that is in- tended, well and good; and let it be uhder- stood that the censuses are not subject to inclusion in ornithological bibliographies, and are not to be cited in any part as dis- tributional evidence. But shall we. thus, from the scientific standpoint, condemn altogether the census idea as exemplified in Bird-Lore's sixteenth exhibit? Is it not possible to corn-
