Nov. 19Ol. THE CONDOR I8 9 Individual Aid in the Welfare of the Club. The opening editorial in the September CON- ?OR deals fittingly with the many disadvan- tages under which the Cooper Club labors ow- ing to the Club's membership being scattered over so much territory, but "?vhieh ?nay in the future be largely remedied" etc. The ar- ticle is well written and forms a rough sum- mary of the general conditions incident to the management of the Cooper Club of today. It also shows that out of a total active member- ship of I7o or more, a s?nall mi.ority practi- cally constitutes the entire working force and considering this fact the growth of the Club in the past eight 3 ears from four members to its present size, reflects greatly on the minor- ity. Besides this though, a heavv percentage o the original reading matter f4and in THE CONDOR comes from the pens of this same minority gratuitously. This l?itter is nnt men- rioned in the editorial quoted, but any one can assure himself of the truth of it by looking over the past numbers of THE CONDOR. So much for the enviable showing made hy those meinbers constituting the minority. Now about the remaining members, compos- ing the majority, not that I care to make invid- ious comparisoos, but hecause due considera- tion of the subject should prove of value to any member. All of us are interested to a greater or less degree in the study of birds, although some are tmdoubtedly too busy in other paths of life to do much more than welcome the ad- vent of THE CONDOR Oll alternate months. Some few are beginners, and the insecurity of their foothold in the stmt. y prevents them at present from taking an active lmrt in the work of the Club. A great many keep records or casual notes of one kind or another ou the bird life around them, and some elaborate theirs no doubt, in- to series of notes, complete as far as possible on some more note-worthy species or groups of species. In this way in the course of a year or so, considerable amount of material is jotted down, most of it of value to the writer or he would not bother about it. The greater part of it consists of little facts or incidents pertinent to bird history aud while of value to the indi- vidual, it would prove equally as interesting to the Club-at-large. Probably a large share of these notes or records are written and ?ep! by Club members who, though t)o far removed from headquarters to take au active part iu the transaction of routine business, are still, in every sense of the word, active field workers. Many of them _ live iu the more remote corners of the state and for that very reason what ornithological work they do is possessed of a greater value, for they are resident observers in localities where other members can ar the best pay only strays visits of a few weeks duration. But for all that we rarely hear from them either in the regular Club meetings or through the pages of TIlE CONDOR and the question is where does all that good nmterial go to? In co,clusion, the acknowledged object of the Club is the highest advancement of the science of' ornithology in California, and it shouM also be rl?e aim of every one of its members to aid as far as possible in the mu- tual advancement of all the members, rather than the self-advancement of individual me:u- bets. JoH2 J. WILLIAMS. .4pplC?,'alc , ?l. COM MUNIC ATIONS. RECONNOISSANCES; A REPLY. Editors Tan. CONDOR:--- Theco-authors of "A Summer Reconnois- sauce in the West," Wilson Bulletin No. 33, seem to take exception to my "destructive" re- view and criticism which apl)eared iu Tnl.: CONDOR recently. If they had made it as plain iu Bulletio No. 33 as they do in their replies, that the list was not intended to be of any general scientific va- lue, the paper wouht not have called for criti- cism from anyone. If a crime has been com- mitted it was i o taking the statements seriously, but kuowing of Mr. tones' previous careful and conscientious work about Oberlin. I have uo apologies to make for supposing this was in- tended to be equally accurate. Certaioly if a wester ? ornithologist should visit Oberlin for a week or ten days and record two to four birds that do not occulthere at all, anda number of others as rare as the Carolina Paroquet or the Short-1)illed Marsh Wren, he would expec[ to he called upon by the whole local club for explanation. In this case I was delegated to do it. Admitting that the Reconnoissance was not inteaded to have any special value, why should exceptions be taken when inaccuracies are pointed out? We are pleased to note that an- other trip is being planned "with scientific settings," which will insure accuracy and therefore be welcome by all who are wrestling with the intricacies of geographical distribu- tion in Califorria. FRANK S. I)AGGETT. /?asadena, ADVICE FDR OOLOC;ISTS. F, ditor CON1?OR: Many a time when blowing a small egg with a pipe [ have nicked it when introduch?g the pipe through the small blow- hole. But I don't do that any more. Instead of using a blowpipe Inow pull a small grass s?:em and insert the soft white end of it into the egg. This delicate end eau be bent in any direction, and eggs can be blown with smaller holes than with a glass pipe. Everyone of these small grass stems is a hollow tube, and some of them can be fouud that are no larger iu diameter than a needle. They are gathered just as you want to use them, and your eggs can be blown as soon as taken. Now don't go to work and try to introduce the stiff green
