BULLETIN of the Cooper Ornithological Club OF CALIFORNIA.

Published bi-monthly at Santa Clara. Cal., in the interests and as Official Organ of the Club.

CHESTER BARLOW - Santa Clara Cal., Editor-in-Chief.

HENRY REED TAYLOR, - Alameda, Cal., HOWARD ROBERTSON, Box 55, Sta. A. Los Angeles, Associates

Advertising rates will be sent on application.

Advertisements and subscriptions should be sent to the Business Managers.

Exchanges should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief.

Notes of interest and striking ornithological photographs for illustration are solicited from members.

When extra copies are desired, they should be ordered at the time of communicating the article.

Write plainly and confine your article to one side of the sheet.

Copyright 1899, by the Cooper Ornithological Club.

EDITORIAL NOTES

To those who have followed the reports of the Cooper Ornithological Club for six years past our BULLETIN will need no introduction. It but marks a new era in the publication of the Club’s proceedings, for which we have hitherto been dependent upon space afforded by current magazines, and to whose publishers the Club acknowledges its indebtedness. The service thus secured has been as generous as we could consistently expect, but our increasing needs have proven this method of publication wholly inadequate. The BULLETIN has taken form in response to a general demand, and the initial issue represents fairly the standard which shall characterize the numbers about to follow.

The BULLETIN will occupy a sphere necessarily its own; its object being to represent generally the great West, and primarily the Cooper Ornithological Club. It is conceded that the West is rich in its possibilities of new discoveries, both in fauna1 forms and data regarding the life histories of many species, and through the field work of a widely distributed corps of members, the Club hopes to present many papers of special value to science. The support of all who are interested in securing these results will be generously reciprocated and the BULLETIN will be found not only valuable to members of the Club and to Californian students of birds, but will prove indispensable to Ornithologists and Oologists of the entire country who would keep in touch with the progress of science in the great West. Descriptions of new birds, and their nests and eggs will be contributed from time to time by active field workers. Let us record your prompt response to these efforts.

We present to our readers with this issne a portrait of that veteran Californian worker, Dr. J. G. Cooper, which is here published for the first time. The biographical data secured by Mr. W. O. Emerson, an old friend of the Doctor’s, was collected in part some time since by Dr. Cooper, who, in anticipation of his decline, had brought together the results of his life’s work. Dr. Cooper, now 65 years of age, is partially paralyzed and enfeebled, and as the winter of his well-spent life draws near, his legion of friends will wish him days of sweet peace and immunity from pain.

Mr. Shields’ contribution on the rather remarkable nesting habits of the Fulvous Tree Duck in this issue, imparts to science many interesting facts heretofore unknown, notably the manner of nesting and the number of eggs deposited by this species. It serves to illustrate the opportunity for research which lies within the grasp of almost every bird student.

Our cover design, representing the California Condor, is the production of Mr. W. Otto Emerson, one of California’s favored bird artists. Mr. Emerson’s home is adorned with many charming bird paintings from his own brush and which show the elegance and grace of the careful observer.

Short notes are solicited from members, who will be surprised at the many items of interest they will discover in the past season’s field notes alone. These should be sent in immediately. We shall make this an interesting feature of the BULLETIN, although many notes for this issue are inadvertently crowded out.

The San Francisco Chronicle, of Nov 26th, prints under the caption “A Successful Crusade against Jays and Hawks” an account of a game hunt held recently by the Petaluma Sportsmen’s Club, when its members turned out on a raid against all hawks and bluejays. The joint bag showed 821 bluejays and 51 hawks “of various kinds” slaughtered on the plea that “each would have destroyed at least five quail’s eggs during the next breeding season.” The ignorance displayed by this star organization is deplorable in the extreme, and each member should enrich his library with a few of the government publications on the raptorial birds and bluejays and their food habits, thus rendering himself more capable of exercising the discretion necessary to the proper use of a gun.

The BULLETIN stands for bird protection, and will strenuously oppose wanton slaughter at all times regardless of its source. We highly commend the excellent work done and the fearless stand taken in this matter by Recreation of New York City.