106 ' TIlE CONDOR Vol, XVI terbalance the damage caused to sprouting grain, and whether the grosbeak can pay for the fruit destroyed by its destruction of scale and other insects. If we are to meet the demands of the day, therefore, we must concentrate some of our energy on the solution of the economic problems connected with birds. The collector should by all means save stomachs and so doubly justify. the killing of the birds collected. Nor is the food habits of birds the only economic problem. The fast dis- appearance of our game birds is creating a loss to the state that is not fully appreciated at the present time. It took many years to successfully arouse public opinion in regard to another of our natura! resources, forests. It may take a similar period of time to draw proper attention to the need for the con- servation of our wild life, but it must be done. Every member of the Cooper Ornithological Club should be an active conservationist, for upon whom can the burden be shifted? Surely not upon those who take no active interest in bird-life. Those who are intimately acquainted with the facts must not only be the experts with the evidence but must be the prim? movers in an active campaign to preserve the relatively scanty remnant of wild-life which is left. I am glad to be able to recall to your attention that the Cooper Club has during the past year taken a definite and active stand for the conservation of wild-life. Growing out of the appointment of a committee on conservation by the Northern Division, one of our members, :?V[r. Walter P. Taylor, was instru- mental in organizing the California Associated Societies for the Conservation' of Wild Life, of which the Cooper Club is now a member. Not only did much of the time and energy of some of our members go into the recent campaign but also some of our funds. As a result, this associated society has been able to bind together about 10,000 persons who are pledged to carry on a campaign of education and to stimulate legislation in behalf of this great natural asset. The recent campaign waged during the last session of the state legislature, although somewhat disappointing, has certainly showed us the enemy in all his strength. We are therefore in a better position to re.new the attack and to carry it to a finally successful issue. I have now pointed out some of our achievements and attempted to show their relative merit. If I should go still farther and attempt to prophesy as to the future scientific work of the Club, I would say that it will be largely characterized by the use of the experimental method. The present-day trend of biology is in that direction and it is to be expected that ornithologists will follow this lead. Another reason why this method is going to be used in the future is because we have come up against that big question,--why do birds do this and why do birds do that ;--and the only logical way of attacking that problem is to use the experimental method. One does not need a laboratory nor even apparatus in order to perform an experiment. Nor is it necessary to keep the birds experimented upon in captivity. In the laboratory of nature may be found both subject and appara- tus. However, there rests on the performer of the experiment the duty of fur- nishing the originality and foresight demanded and the ingenuity to be used in the arrangement of controls. The road which leads to a better knowledge of life-histories and the mysteries of migration is to be built upon experimental method. Workers in science are often justly criticized because they seldom make the ptod?ct of their endeavor available to the general reader. The populari-
