236 THE CONDOR Vol. XV ter" Sutton take rank as "Mr." among the trained reporters of bird life. The bird biography for this issue is by Witm?r Stone and is concerned with the Catbird. Mr. Stone does his four page stunt conschentiously and hits off the character of the bird with scientific accuracy as well as verbal distinction. The economic homily at the end of his treatment is pleasantly sugar- ed and his concluding paragraph oi apprecia- tion leaves us with hearts thoroughly warmed towards his hero. Stone knows his Catbird. We wish we could say as much for the artist who paints him. Bruce Horsfall's plate oi the "Catbird" is just another colored representation o/ tw(, bird-like objects--nothing more. They are not "Catbirds." Paint them brown and they might pass for languid wrens. Paint them green and they would do /or Warblers badly stuffed. Candidly now--and however regret- fully--one wonders why Horsfall persists in trying to paint birds.--W. L. D. MINUTES OF COOPER CLUB -MEETINGS SOUTYIER N DIVISION OcTomZ]z.--The regular monthly meethag of the Southern Division was held at the Museum o/ History, Science and Art, Thurs- day evening, October 30, with President Law in the chair and the following members pre- sent: Messrs. Chambers, Daggett, Grey, Howell, Judson, Law, Miller, Moreore, Rich, Snyder, Swarth, Van Rossera, W{llett, Wood, and Wyman. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved, followed by the reading of the Northern Division m/mites /or October. The /ollo?v{ng were elected to membership in the Club: W. C. Bradbury, Denver, Colorado; J. W. Eggleston, Los Angeles; C. B. Lastreto, San Francisco; H. A. Edwards, Los Angeles. New names submitted were: Allan J. Stover, Corvallis, Oregon, proposed by Geo. F. Sykes; E. F. Pope, Co]onesne{1, Texas, proposed hy I-{, W. Cart[get; Amelia Sanborn Allen, Berkeley, proposed by J. Grinnell. At the request o/ Mrs. E. H. Husl?er an- nouncement was made that the Mozart Theatre, 730 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, had agreed, by an arrangement with the Audubon Society, to exhibit moving pictures o/ birds during the last week of each month. The action of the Northern Division in re- gard to.the proposed conservation congress to be held {n San Francisco {n 1915 was raft/led, and the president and secretary o/ the South- ern Division were author{zeal to sign the let- ter which had been drawn up by the Northern Division's committee /or transmittal to vari- ous institutions and individuals. Business disposed of, Mr. Willett enter- tained the Club with some of the experiences of his past summer's work in southeastern Alaska. He exhibited skins of the Dixon Rock Ptarmigan and the Alexander Willow Ptarmigan, adults and young in summer plumage, and also a series of photos taken dur- ing the summer. Mr. Wood told o/ a disastrous mortality to which he found nestling birds subject in the late summer in the vicinity o/ Prescott, Arizona. The blow-fly o/the region was found laying its eggs on the newly-hatched young, the resulting larvae boring under the skin and ?there /eeding on the living flesh. Mocking- birds were especially studied, though other species also wer?e observed thus afflicted, and it seemed to be a common and widespread source of suffering to' the late hatched broods. Mr. Howell spoke briefly of his seasoh's collecting in southeastern Arizona. Ad- journed.--H. S. SWA?TI% Secretary. NORTHERN DIVISION AUeUST.--A meeting of the Northern Di- vision of the Cooper Ornithological Club was held a? the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, Ca]., on Saturday evening, August 9, 1913. Vice-president H. C. Bryant pre.- sided with the following members present: Messrs. Boyce, Clarke, Cooper, Emerson, A. K. Fisher, W. K. Fisher, J. Grinnell, and Storer. Mesdames Allen and Cooper and Messrs Belt,' Parker, and Martens were present as visitors. Dr. A. K. Fisher as speaker of the even- ing told of some of the work of the Biological Survey along the lines of economic mammalogy and ornithology. He first told of the work being done toward checking the increase of harmful rodents and of the results obtained in that work. Of par- ticular interest to the members .of the Club were his remarks on the w9rk which is now being done in examining the stomachs of various species of birds. From these examin- ations the Survey has among other things de- termined the commoner food plants of the game birds and a plan has been formulated to establish farms for the propagation of these food plants so that the seed may be dis- tributed to the various parts of the countr3. By this and other methods it is hoped that some of the now transient species may be induced to breed in local areas. No business was transacted at the meeting. Adjourned.--T?^c I. STo?, Secretary. S?:r?t?.--The regular monthly ' meet- of the Northern Division of the Cooper Orni- thological Club was held in Room 101, East Hall, University. of California, 'Berkeley, on
