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Mar., 1916 THI? NI?W MUSI?UM OF COMPARATIVI? OOLOGY enjoy special and perpetual privilege. Our affairs are administered by a Board of fifteen Trustees, and we count our cause fortunate in having official sponsors who by reason of social, financial, and administrative prominence, or other spe- cial fitness for the task in hand, make up an efficient working body. These are: BOARD OF TRUSTEES Joel Remington Fithian, Pres. George S. Edwards, Treas. Fred H. Schauer Win. Norman Campbell, V.P. Ellen S. Chamberlain Francis T. Underhill Clinton B. Hale, Vice-Pres. Clinton P. McAllaster Rebecca S. Campbell E. P. Ripley, Vice-Pres. Lora J. Moore Etta A. Dawson William Leon Dawson, Sec'y. Ednah A. Rich Marion A. Patrick Of these, the President,-Mr. Joel Remington Fithian, deserves particular credit for having early and warmly espoused a cause in which he saw the future glory of Santa Barbara worthily reflected. The early policies of the institution were shaped by Mr. Fithian and his friends, and they are, in fact, co-founders. And if we should single out for special mention the names of E. P. Ripley, Pres- ident of the Santa F? Railway system, or George S. Edwards, President of the Commercial Bank of Santa Barbara, or Miss Ednah Rich, President of the State Normal School of Manual Arts and Home Economics, it is only to give added assurance that the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative 051ogy understand what they are about, and will see the enterprise through. Building plans are already under discussion, although the building era is definitely deferred for three years. A commanding site with an acre of ground overlooking Santa Barbara is being selected, and upon this it is proposed to erect a closely grouped series of buildings, some twenty-two in number, of two unit types, one 22x40, the other 32x54 feet in dimensions. All construction will be of reinforced concrete, fire-and-quake-proof, with top lighting and dry heating. Besides an administration hall, a library building, a lecture hall, and work rooms, space has been estimated for the housing of a representation of 15,000 species of birds, reckoning to each bird a unit allowance of 2075 cubic inches. For the architectural grouping and landscaping, the services of the distin- guished artist, Francis T. Underhill, have been retained. The entire group of bnildings with their furnishings will cost upwards of $150,000, and the com- pleted whole, including maintenance, endowment, and research expenditures, will require something over half a million dollars. Needless to say this is the ultimate plan, a plan whose realization may require a period of twenty-five or thirty years. The adoption of a consistent plan of unit construction imparts to the whole a greatly desired flexibility. A modest beginning will be made with one or two buildings, and the number of buildings will be increased from year to year as the requirements of accum'ulating specimens demand. The immediate program of the Museinn of Comparative 051ogy is a very modest one. Owing to the writer's previous engagement with The Birds of Cali- fornia Publishing Company, the new enterprise must accommodate itself to the old one until the task of preparing "The Bi?ds of California" is completed. The Museum will coSperate with the publishing enterprise in prosecuting field work this coming season, although its financing and other responsibilities will be per- fectly distinct. The collections now housed in the author's fire-proof studio at Los Colibris are crowding their allotment of space. A temporary building, 20x 30, of corrugated iron, is being erected close to the old one, and the added space will be filled as rapidly as possible with new cases. The management pledges it- self to provide adequate housing for all material sent in, and will devote itself, for the ensuing three years, not only to the accumulation of desirable material..