54 THE CONDOR I voL. vii THE CONDOI2. An Illust?ralked MaOazine o17 Western OrnHholo$y Published Bi=mon?hly by I'he Cooper Ornil'holo?l- eal Club of Caii?ornia WALTE1Z K. FiSHE1Z, gdifor, Palo Aifo $O?EPrl (ilZilqlqgLL, Business Manager and Associafe gdit?or, Pasadena 1Z. E. ?HOD(iP?A?, WILLIAM L. F1HLE, Associal'e Edifors Palo Alfo, California: Published Marcb 17, i 905 Price in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and U. Sl Colonies one dollar a year; single copies twenty-five cents. Price in all countries in the International Postal Union one dollar and a quarter a year. Subscriptions should be sent to the Business Manager; manuscripts and exchanges to the Editor. EDITORIAL NOTES AFTER two trials at bird protection legisla- tion th? state of California has appareutly succeeded in enacting alaw. Acopy of the bill, which was drawn up by Mr. Charles Vogelsang of the State Game and Fish Commission, with amendments suggested by Dr. T. S. Palmer of the U. S. Biological Survey, is printed below. The measure was introduced into the Senate by Senator John G. Mattos and into the Assembly by Assemblyman E. K. Strobridge. At the Jan- uary meeting of the Club the bill was read by Mr. Emerson, and after some discussion was en- dorsed by the Club. The clause permitting the owner or tenant of any premises to kill birds in the act of destroying crops or fruits growing on the premises is certainly susceptible to grave abuse, but the amendment prohibiting the sale of such birds will undoubtedly do something to check undue liberties. This clause, and the absence of any specfic mention of poison or poi- soned water was considerably discussed at the meeting referred to, and later. It seemed best, in view of the fact that these are the very rocks upon which the first bill--that of the Cooper Club in I9OI--was wrecked, to concede the points. Another bill was in the field at the time but was later withdrawn by its promoters, About four years ago those who were active in securing the passage of the Cooper Club bill were rejoicing in the anticipation that it would become a law. But there's many a slip as they found out, for the governor did not see fit to add his essential signature. Since then consid- erable work in educating the people has been done by the U.S. Biological Survey, through bulletins, and especially by the presence of Prof. Beal in the state for parts of two years. Un- doubtedly a large part of the change of senti- ment has been due also to the national move- ment towards protecting beneficial birds. Dur- ing the past year the California Audubon Soci- ety has been indefatigable in spreading its propaganda among the people, with desirable results. Last, and we believe not least, the widening influence of the Cooper Club through its representative membership has also helped to turn the balance. In the immediate work of securing the pas- sage of the bill Mr. Vogelsang, Senator Mattos, Assemblyman Strobridge and Mr. Emerson have been especially active and these gentlemen certainly deserve the thanks of everyone for their public-spirited efforts. Doubtless there were many others who aided also in lobbying the measure. Their reward should be the con- sciousness of well-doing! A copy of the bill follows: The people oj' the Slate q California, repre- sented in senate and assembly, do enact as fol- lows: SEc?o? ?. Section six hundred and thirty- seven of the Penal Code of the State of Califor- nia, is hereby amended to read as follows: 637a. Every person who, in the State of California, shall at any time hunt, shoot at, pursue, take, kill or destroy, buy, sell, give away, or have in his possession, except upon a written permit, from the board of fish commis- sioners of the State of California, for the pur- pose of propagation or for education or scientific purposes, any meadow lark, or any wild bird, living or dead, or auy part of any dead wild bird, or who shall rob the nest, or take, sell, or offer for sale, or destroy the eggs of any meadow lark or of any wild bird, is guilty of a misde- meanor; provided, that nothing in this section shall prohibit the killin of a meadow lark or other wild bird by the owner or tenant of any premises where such bird is found of destroying berries, fruits or crops growing on such premises, but the birds so killed shall not be shipped or sold. The English sparrow, sharp- shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, duck hawk, great horned owl, bluejay, house finch (known also as the California linnet), and all birds otherwise protected by the provisions of this code and those birds commonly known as game birds, are not included among the birds pro- tected by this section. Although Governor Pardee has not yet signed the bill be believe it very unlikely that he will consider it unfavorably. At any rate let us hope that this will not be another "slip". IlE series of portraits of eminent European ornithologists, announced in the January issue, is opened with likenesses of Dr. Philip Lutley Sclater, Dr. Jean Cabanis, Mr. Howard Saunders and Victor Ritter yon Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen. Dr. Sclater, perhaps the most widely known ornithologist living, has for many years been the secretary of the Zoological Society of London and editor of 7he Jbis. His researches have been chiefly concerned with Neotropical birds, upon which he has published a formidable list of papers. The bibliography of his published writings (Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 49, I896) lists I239 titles, to which many have been added during the last decade. Up to that time he had characterized IO67 new
