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Sept.,191? EDITORIAL NOT]?$ AND N]?WS 171 THE CONDOR h l?fagazine of Western Ornithology Published Bi-Monthly by the Cooper Ornitholo?ice3 Club J. GRINNELL, Editor HARRY S. SWARTH, Associate Editor J. EUGENE LAW W. LEE CHAMBERS Business Managers Hollywood, California: Published Sept. 25, 1917 SUBSCRIPTION RATES One Dollar and Fifty Cents per Year in the United States, payable in advance. Thirty Cents the single copy. One Dollar and Seventy-five Cents per Year in all other countries in 1he International Postal Union. COOPER CLUB DUES Two Dollars per year for meatbets residing in the United States. Two Doll&rs and Twenty-five Cents in all other countries. Manuscripts for publication, and Books and Papers for Review, should be sent to the ]?ditor, 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 Exchang'es, should be sent to the Business Manager. Address W. Lee Chambers, Business Manager, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles County, California. EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS Dr. Barton W. Evermann has been carry- ing on a study of the White Pelican colony at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, for the purpose cf preparing a habitat group of the species to be installed in the Museum of the Cali- fornia Academy of Sciences. In a talk given by Dr. Evermann at a recent meeting of the Northern Division of the Cooper Ornitholog- ical Club, he raised the question as to the desirability Of continuing such absolute pro- tection as the birds have received up to the present time. The several thousand Peli- cans constituting the colony on Pyramid Lake, each eating several pounds of fish per day, consume in the course of a year a total that seems rather appalling in these days of food scarcity, certainly far more fish than are eaten by the entire human population of Nevada 'during the same period. It is true that the fish taken by the Pelicans (mostly suckers and chub, as but few trout are de- stroyed) are not at present utilized to any extent by the white population of Nevada. The Indians dry them in large quantities, and there is no apparent reason why these fish should not be widely acceptable food, either fresh or canned. As pointed out by Dr. Evermann, there is possibility here for the establishment of an important industry, with the consequent utilization of a food product that is now being undeservedly neg- lected; and there is no reason why we should not insist upon the Pelicans at least sharing with us the monopoly they are now enjoying, even if it should prove necessary to reduce the Pelican population. A seventh edition of Mrs. Bailey's "Hand- book of Birds df the Western United States" (Houghton, Mifflin Company) has appear- ed, this one being an innovation in that it is greatly reduced in size through use of thin paper, cutting to narrower margins, and replacement of the board covers by limp leather. The result will prove particularly welcome to the field student who has need of reducing his luggage to a minimum of weight and bulk. We find the actual weight of our old copy of "Bailey" (second edition) to be 35 ounces, of the new edition to be just 19 ounces--a saving of one whole pound. In bulk the reduction we find to be just-one-half. The size now permits of carrying the book loosely in an ordinary pocket. The new edition shows extended changes in the pages of "Addenda", but oth- erwise the text is the same as heretofore. The Museum of Comparative Oology at Santa Barbara has recently secured an egg of the extinct "Roc", AEpyornis maximus, of Madagascar. This specimen, which meas- ures twelve inches in length by nine in breadth, "as big as a watermelon", is with- out discoloration of any kind and is said to be one of the finest in existence. Its shell weighs three and three-quarters pounds avoirdupois; while the contents, to judge from the soft swish emitted upon rotation, have become reduced to a mere handful of dust. For the acquisition of this treasure the Museum is indebted to Dr. Frederick A. Lucas who gave information leading to its "discovery", in the hands of a Danish mis- sionary, and to the donor, Miss Caroline Haz- ard, of Santa Barbara and Peace Dale. We wish Mr. Oberholser would confine his announcements of innovations in nomen- clature to avowedly technical articles in- stead of running them into all sorts of unex- pected places, Often in quite "popular" lit- erature. In the Wilson Bulletin, no. 98, March, 1917, we encounter, without justifi- cation, "Linaria cyanea" (p. 29) for the In- digo Bunting, "Heclymeles luclovicianus" (p. 28) for the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, etc., ef- fectually concealed in an article under the innocent title "A Cooperative Bird Census at Washington, D.C."! Mr. W. Leon Dawson is continuing his work on the text of his "Birds of Califor-