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 THE CONDOR Vol. XIV birds had for generations been accustomed to man. Such a bird, however, is of none the less interest, because available close to a great metropolis. In fact this contingen'cy adds gen- eral interest. The Osprey has been treated before in many places, both biographically and photographically, but, in spite of its accessi- bility, always in a desultory fashion. It seems strange that expeditions are continually be- ing undertaken to remote regions for the purpos6 of making life studies of particular birds seldom known even by name to the people at large. But then, in these cases, there are the elements .of travel and adven- ture, which give that thrill which seems usual- ly necessary to supply the impetus to both the contributors of expenses and the active agent in the euterprize. Mr. Abbott has established a most com- mendable precedent, both in his selection of a close-at-hand subject for intensive ornitho- logical study, and in the success with which he has observed facts and presented them in concise and literarily correct form.--J. GRINNELL. THE BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA: [etc.] by ROBERT RIDGWAV, [etc.] Part V. [ Family Petroptochidae--The Tapaculos. : Family Formicariidae--The Antbirds. [ Fam- ily Fumariidae--The Ovenbirds. [ Family Dendrocolaptidae--The Woodhewers. ] Family Trochilidae--The Hummingbirds [ Family Micropodidae--The Swifts. [ Family Trogo- nidae--the Trogons. [ [etc.]. =Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 50, Part V, pp. i-xxiii, 1-859, pls. i-xxxiii; "issued Novembel 29, 1911." Part V of Ridgway's great work shows a consistent maintenance of the very high standard set in Part I, which appeared ten years ago. The enormous value of the work as a whole to systematic and faunistic orni- thologists is becoming increasingly apparent as a larger proportion of the undertaking yields to completion. We are informed in the preface of the fifth part that the number of species and sub-species described in the five volumes is 2038, and that about 12C0 forms remain to be treated in the subsequent parts of the work. The scope of the present installment is in- dicated in the title, quoted in its essential de- tails above. The great bulk of the species belong to Mexico and Central America. Only the hummingbirds and swifts include regular representatives north of the Mexican line. Among these we note, of nomendatural in- terest, that the limits of the genus Nephoe- ceres are extended to include our Black Swift, which becomes accordingly Nephoccetes niger borealis. In the statements of ranges of certain of our hummingbirds, notably the Allen and Rufous, we regret to see lack of accord with the facts as now recognized. These inaccu- racies are the result of accepting many really erroneous records of occurrence at face value. A lamentable thing, borne in upon us strong- ly of late, is the confusion that has evidently arisen even among experienced field ornithoL ogists in the identification of breeding hum. mingbirds. Discrimination has not been care- fully drawn between species actually nesting, and species which merely appear in transit through a region even though the latter may occur at a season when other species have eggs or small young. The breeding of the Rufous Hummingbird on the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, and in Santa Clara County, California, are extreme instances of unlikelihood. That the Allen Hummingbird is "resident" throughout the greater part of its range is very much to be doubted. We call attention to this misfortune here, not in criticism of M'. Ridgway, who in his function of compiler cannot be expected to analyse at all critically the vast numbers of records to be considered and incorporated. but to point out wherein we must revise our conclusions in the light Of more careful field work. Even the last (1910) edition of the A. O. U. Check-List is pretty shaky in its "ranges'" of hummingbirds. But let us again refer to Ridgway's Birds in the more happy vein, which it most em- phatically deserves. The detailed descriptions, drawn up by an experienced hand, are alone of infistimable value, especially as regards the species of tropical America. A thing we have observed is the tendency, and ofttimes expedi- ency, of actopting well worded and accurate descriptions when once d?awn up, in subse- quent literature. Mr. Ridgway has already provided characterizations which are recog- nizable as his, copied far and wide in popu- lar and semi-scientific books on North Amer- ican birds. In the further development of ornithology of the now lesser known parts of the American continent, Ridgway's skilled treatment will always be the hasis.--J. GRINNELL. THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRD LIFE By RICHARD H. SULLIVAN. [=Agricultural Ed- ucation, Kansas State Agricultural College, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 1-47, 30 figs. in text.] At the present time there is considerable discussion as to the value of the great flood of bulletins that are yearly potired out from