134 THE CONDOR I Vol. III THE CONDOR. Bulletin of the COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB o?* Published bi-monthly at Santa Clara, Cal., in the interests and as Official Organ of the Club. CHESTER BARLOW, Santa Clara, al., Editor and Business Manager. WALTER K. FISHER, Stanford University Cal. HOWARD ROBETRSON, Box 55, Sta. A., Los Angeles. Associates. Subscription, (in advance) One Dollar a Year. Single Copies, - ...... 25 Cents. Six Copies or more of one issue, i2? Cents Each. Foreign Subscription, - ..... $n25. Free to Honorary Members and to Active Members not in arrears for dues. Advertising rates will be sent on application. Advertisements and subscriptions should be scut to the Business Managers. Exchanges should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. Entered at the Santa Clara Post-office as second class matter. This issue of The Condor was mailed Sept. x7. EDITORIAL NOTES. A Clttb Some especially enthusiastic fall Congress and winter meetings of the Club for I9O 3. are being arranged, and it is hoped that members at a distance who have hereto- fore for various reasons been unable to attend a session of the Club, will make a special effort to be present at one or more meetings during'the winter. With a membership ex- tending from Siskiyou to San Diego and east to the Sierras, and with but two recognized places of meeting in the State, the Club has worked under certain disadvantages which less energetic societies might never have overcome but which mav in the future be largely remedied by the "chapter" arrangement out- lined by Mr. Daggett in our last issue. The business of the Club during the course of the year is transacted in both Divisions by perhaps one-third of the total membership, the remaining members being too far removed to take an active part. This same minority of the membership supervises the Club's affairs and directs its destiny, while the remaining membership must perforce keep .in touch with the Club's progress solely through the medium of THE CONDOR. It is to the credit of these distant members that many excellent sugges- tions and papers reach the Club through their energy and direct efforts. It is therefore hoped that many of the "outside" members will make an especial effort to attend at least the Annual Meeting of their Divisions and listen to the reports of the progress made during the year. It is apparent that at no distant date the Cooper Ornithological Club will find itself at- ranging for a State Meeting. By no other means can the Club as a whole become cog- nizant of its strength or comprehend the extent of its membership. Out of its active membership of ?6o it may safely be assumed that upward of one-third of the members of the Club would attend a general meeting offering a special programme, and those fa- miliar with the interest taken at the regular meetings can imagine the enthusiasm attend- ant upon bringing together 50 or 75 ornitho- Iogists,--all from a comparatively small area! We daresay that such a session would rival an A. O. U. Congress in point of enthusiasm! The Cooper Ornithological Club celebrated its eighth year of existence iu June last, and the summer of ?[9o3 will mark the tenth anni- versary of the Club. To the older members it will have been ten years. of co-operative orni- thological study; to the more recent members, a shorter enjoyment of the same accruing benefits, and to all it will bring the memory of ?nany a pleasant meeting. There are those whose names have rightfully found a place on America's ornithological roll of honor who will recount some of the earlier meetings of the Cooper Club with more feeling than they would perhaps today accord more notable gatherings of ornithologists. Wherefore we propose a rousing Cooper Club reunion for ?9o3 ! Have we suffered a decadence in popular ornithological writings during the past decade? This query sounds a little incongruous in view of the present activity in ornithology, for there never was a time when specialists and systematists were as numerous as now, and the wave styled "popular ornithology" has swept the Union from shore to shore; yet to the field workers of ten, fifteen or twenty years ago there must appear a dirth of that under-current of true enthusiasm such as guided their pens to produce some of the most earnest and soul-stirring appeals to the hearts of ornithologists that we have known. The old Ornilholo?isl ? Oolo?isl has not yet ceased to be the rule by which more re- cent publishers have measured the merits of their magazines. Barring technical work and fads, how many latter-day bird magazines have approached this splendid ideal ? We do not care to venture the answer. Where are the pens that turn out such ringing narratives as those of long ago? Where are the Hoxies, the Taylors, the Cahoons, the Clarks, the Rawsons of the '8o's? Many of them are still living and doubtless find bird-study as delight- ful as it ever was, but their pens have ceased to pass along the cogent thoughts and the en- thusiasm which are theirs. Ornithology has progressed immeasurably; there is need for the great mass of technical work now in progress, and the extreme type of popular ornithology is probaly doing some good, but between these two is a great and growing class of ornithologists who look to the field and woodland for their inspiration. Next to their direct field work they rely upon
