176 THE CONDOR VOL. XI PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED
- THE BIRDS OF WASHINGTON [ A Complete,
Scientific and [ Popular Account of the 372 Species of Bi?rds ] Found in the State I By WILLIAM LEON DAWSON, A.M., B. D., of Seattle [ Author of "The Birds of Ohio" assisted by I JOHN HOOPER BOWLES, of Tacoma I Illustrated by more than 300 original half-tones of birds in life, nests, l eggs, and favorite haunts, from photographs by the[ author and others. ] Together with 40 draw- ings in the text and a series of ] full-page color- plates. I By ALLAN BROOKS I? I Large Paper Edition I with photogravures and special photographs. I Sold only by subscription. ' /1 Volume I [-II] I I Sealtle I Th? Occidental Publishing Co. I 19091 All rights served.-- large 4to, vol. I: 511., pp. i-xviii, 1-458, trations as indicated in title. Titis long expected work reacht us in August, a month of dullness to those who are compelled by circumstances to pass the season in the office, far from the refreshing mountains and forests. In our case, no more pleasurable, vivifylug sen- sation ever pervaded us than when we had un- Packt?the two massive volumes and began to cut and ttlrn the pages. The wonderfully clear scenic views, the'accurate bird portraits, the viarid accounts, .all tended to bring us thrilling- ly clo?e to th& .realities depicted. "The Birds of Washington" is the most im- pressively adorned bird book we have ever handled.. , From the fly-leaves, with their unique gull-pattern to Brooks' beautifully rendered Duck tlawk portrait, the work is an ideal?0f artistic taste and elegant book-making. '.The text is chiefly popular in style, the tech- nical matter being condensed into brief descrip- tions, and statements of range. A set of iden- tification keys, prepared by Lynds Jones, is ap- pended to Volrune II. The numerous life histories are well told; many of them we recog- niLe:as the results of Bowles' careful field work. In'f&ct a large part of the scientific value of the work was evidently contributed by this observ- er,. ?s fully acknowledged by the author in the introduction. The accounts of species are vivacious por- trayals of their subjects, in the pleasing Daw- sonian style. They are chuck full of clever allusion, f?om Bobby Burns to the Bible. As is clearly explained by the author the book is written to meet the approval of the majority of its readers. Probably 90 percent of the sub- scribers are very slightly or not at all familiar with previous ornithological literature. It looks a trifle out of place to an?iounce the book as a "complete, sqientific',' as wgl.1 as popular treatise, altho we recognize this aq? customary with publishers. The impression is satisfac- torily corrected, however, by the author, who in the preface shows his attitude to be one of com- mendable modesty. The State of Washington is part of a region of wonderful zonal and faunal diversity and for the working out even of the rougher distribu- tion of its birds, a vast amount more of field work will be necessary. While the author is clearly not in sympathy with unlimited collect- ing of specimens, he exhibits the proper atti- tude in his having overcome his qualms s in many cases, by resorting to the gun to secure proper identification of species. We would suggest that with such birds as the Red-wingS, Song Sparrows, Savanna Sparrows, and Jays, collecting in quantity will be necessary before their statuses are satisfactorily workt out. Such work as this (besides also the very large bio- graphical phase of ornlthology) awaits the ac- tivities of the Caurinus ("northwestern") Club, to which body of ornithologists the "Birds of' Washington" is dedicated. We feel that what we have tried to say in praise of Dawson's "Birds of Washington" is quite inadequate. There is within us a grow- ing feeling of resentment? not towards the author, but towards the "fate" that lead Mr. Dawson to select Washington for his field of ornithological labors, rather than California! --J.G. MR. LoYE HOLMES MILLER has recently' named* a new fossil bird from California under the title: PAVO CALIFORNICUS, A FOSSIL PEACOCK FROM THE QUARTERNAR ASPHALT By:DS OF RANCHo LA BREA. The locality is near Los Angeles where have also been found other interesting bird remains yet to be described. In association with these fossil birds have been nneartht such mammalian forms as the saber-tooth tiger, and a lion even larger than the present-day African lion. The new peacock is recognized from a tarso-meta- tarsus bearing a spur-core, as in males of the common domesticated peacock. The fossil material is minutely described by the author, and compared with its persisting allies. "Students of Ornithology have in general laid minor stress on paleontological evidence in the determination of centers of distribn- tion." This has been of necessity, for very little fossil material has been found represent- ing existing bird groups. The discovery of a peacock, therefore, so far from the present native range of the family (the Indian Region) assumes a very large importance. Fossil peacocks have been found previously in Europe and India. Because of the still imperfectly disclosed record, Mr. Miller refrains from ad- vancing any theories as to the course of dis- semination of the group, or its place of origin. As to the influences which have resulted in the disappearance of the phasianines from our fauna, while the quails are today so abundanfiy
- Univ. Calif. Publ. Geology V, pp, 285-289, pl. 25;
i.?ued Aug. 14, 1909,
