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26 THE CONDOR Vol. XVI been left blank or turned to better purpose in the enlarging of the plates. But this is not all, for the text, formless and trifling as it is, is as full of inaccuracies, guesses, and bald misstatements as an egg is of meat---or, let us say, as an own- erless dog is of fleas; whoso lies down with it shall go scratching for many a day. Of course the space at command is very scant. All the more reason, then, why some two or three lines of information should have been held to through- out. Apart from the' oological interest, which predominates but is still inter- mittent,' we get mere sdraps--n0w a plumage description, now a range, now a bit of life-history, but always a choice array of Eastern guesses at Western facts. The omission of a bird's 'range is often misleading. Thus, Willow and Rock Ptarmigan are given as though they might be of universal distribution in the West. The omission of a sub-species might easily be pardoned, if it were con- sislent i but to give one and make no mention of another more important in the W?st is needlessly misleading. Thus, no mention is made of the Hutchins Goose or the Sandhill Crane or'the Oregon Ruffed GrouSe or ?the Red-naped Sapsucker. While professing to be complete, even species are omitted if they chance to resemble Closely certain other ipec/es. Thns, the Lesser Yellowlegs, White-winged Dove; and Yellow-billed Magpie are omitted without mention. An amusing atiempt is'made in these pages to "bear" the western egg mar~ ket? Thus,. We are told} page I?4, that Co?dors' e.e'gs are "not as unobtainable as many. suppose"; that Duck Hawks nest "abundantly" on the Pacific Coast; als0, that the Green-winged Teal breeds abundantly ? in California and Oregon. BUi since ?;e have made the'charge of inaccuracy, let us be specific, for this is the nub Of the matter.' The inaccuracies noted appear to be of two classes: th?sse which are due to sheer carelessness, lapsi calami and poor proof read- ings, and those which betray crass ignorance of Western conditions. The former are more easily forgivable, 'so let a few examples suffice. Ralius ievipes is ac- corded a?len?h of I0 incl?es as over'against ?5 for California Clapper Rail, page ?5; Florida Gallinules are said io lay from' six to ten eggs of a creamy buff color (no spots !) page 72; Coots, pige 72, have the same retiring habits as Rails. (The Writer had 246 Coots fighting for a chance at his loaf of bread this very (lay, yet' there' are two'si)ecie? of Rails which. he has never vet seen.) Cerylc tor(l?,,a'ta is said to be "somewhat larger than the above", that is, than the Belted Kingfisher, although the accompanying numerals proclaim it to be only 8?i inches 10ng, as against ?3 fdr Ceryle alcyon. The Anna'Hummer, -the largest C?lifornia species, pag e ?42, is no longer than the Calliope, our smallest, etc., etc. But it is only when we'fulB/realize the difficulty which must beset the writer who' would 'descant upon 'species two or three thousand miles away, above all to write'a "gulde '? for them, {hat our appreciation of hi? courage rises to the boiling point. I give a dozen examples, ?elected at random from hundreds, to illustrate the difficulties which must inevitably attend such an attempt. We learn from this doughty y01u?ne that large numbers of California Murre eggg are takeu yearly to the .San Francisco and other market places, etc. Of course this practice was discontinued many yea{'s' ago by Government order. The Glaucot?s-winged Gull is said to breed "from British Columbia northwards", page 22. 'Its .breeding range includes the west coast of Washington also.- Bonaparte Gulls "are rarely found in the !J. S. with the black hood", page 26. They are of regt?lar occurrence in such phunage l?oth going and coming, as far south as Santa Barbara. Farallor? Cormorants breed in large numbers on the Farallones, page 39- Presumably?-- only {hey don't. Mallards feed on molluscs and marine insects which they gen-