Notes and News
NOTES AND NEWS
The frontispiece of this issue shows the Yellowbreasted Chat (Icteria &ens) as painted by Andrew Jackson Grayson in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico, in 1865. The plant shown is composite, consisting of a bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) endemic to the cape region of South Africa and grown in Mexican gardens and leaves resembling the common arrow-weed which may belong to a native species. This reproduction is a gift of the James Irvine Foundation in commemoration of the Society of California Pioneers, to which Grayson belonged.
The Southern Ornithological Society was established at Gainesville, Florida, on September 29, 1951. The purposes of the society are to stimulate interest and to promote research in the science of Ornithology. Dr. Pierce Brodkorb was elected president; Julian Baumel, vice-president; David Karraker, secretary; and Earl C. May, treasurer.
In June, 1951, the first five grants of Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fellowships for ornithological research were made by the American Museum of Natural History from the income of the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund. The amount distributed totaled $1950, and the recipients and their respective projects were as follows: Richard B. Fischer, Cornell University, a study, based upon banded birds, of the reproductive behavior of the Chimney Swift in central New York State; Byron E. Harrell, University of Minnesota, faunal and ecological investigations of bird life in southern Tamaulipas, Mexico; Owen A. Knorr, Colorado College, life-history studies of the Black Swift in the Rocky Mountains; Mrs. Robert Schultz, University of Washington, the life-history of the Glaucous-winged Gull; and David K. Wetherbee, Clark University, research on the pterylosis of North American birds.
Additional grants from the Chapman Memorial Fund may be made in the spring of 1952. In general, the needs of student investigators will be given preference over those of candidates already possessing widely recognized scientific prestige. Applicants should clearly state their problems and their qualifications. They should likewise be sponsored by one or more of their professors. The requests should be addressed to the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Committee, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York 24, New York. They should be received not later than January 31, 1952, in order that decisions may be made well in advance of the summer vacation period.
