Reviews. 199 



tliology are admittedly tentative" is certainly weak. "To use the 

 old Check List system unchanged for the sake of convenience" is 

 a verj' lame e.xcnse for not givina; us a modern and proper classi- 

 fication. Thoutih this is had enough, another disappointment is 

 still worse, and neither justifiable nor excusable, the one pointed 

 out by fl:e late Dr. Elliot Cones in 1807 (Auk Vol. XIV, p. 229) 

 viz. ••that of passing from the lowest to the highest forms as ap- 

 plied to the families, but not to the genera within these families, 

 a reversal of sequence of families coupled with non-reversal of 

 the se(iuence of genera within the families." Dr. Coues quotes as 

 an illustration tbe Anatida\ and it i- i-Iain to an.y thinking person 

 that he was correct in ihis remarks. Truly in regard to classifica- 

 tion of birds — for the whole structure uf a bird must be taken into 

 <'onsideration. nor merely the external characters — the new Check 

 List is a disappointment, and it will be a long time l)ef(n'e it will 

 be accepted as an authority along these lines I 



The Geograjihical Ranges are admittedly ditlicult to work out, 

 but wc think had the authors consulted any Ohio ornithologist, as 

 they did the Illinois men. or the padres of the Wilson Bulletin, er- 

 rors and omissions concerning this state would have been avoided. 

 The Chuck-will's-widow is erroneously credited to Ohio; the An- 

 liinga. tl:e Kurf Scoter, t'lie Krant, Cory's Least Bittern, Egret, Lit- 

 tle Blue Heron, Huff, Swallow-tailed Kite, Western Redtail, Gos- 

 hawk, lied-cockaded Woodpecker, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Smith's 

 Longspur, Leconte's 'Sparrow. Nelson's Sparrow, and many other 

 species liave been taken in Ohio and should be credited with an 

 accidental, in some cases as the Little Blue Heron, with a casual 

 occurrence in Ohio. The I'rairie Chicken still exists in Michigan, 

 the Olive-backed Thrush is of accidental occurrence in Europe- 

 Russia for instance, — and the European Whitefronted Goose, if it 

 is of doubtful record only from Eastern Greenland, should l)e rele- 

 gated to the hypothetical list. 



We had also hoped to see a rigid investigation into the standing 

 and value of some subspecies. The Willow Goldfinch, the Desert 

 Sparrow Hawk, and others too numerous to mention, should not be 

 worthy of a name. Fifteen years ago the Scaup Duck of America was 

 considered a subspecies with a name (nearctica), the Herring Gull 

 likewise (smithsouianus) and any attempt to claim the futility of 

 that procedure would have been scorned and castigated — but today 

 we know their exact status through a thorough and unprejudiced 

 investigation. Wlhy not apply it to these cases of the present day? 

 M'any of tliesc sul:specifie distinctions exist — as the writer well 

 knows — and are of sufficient value to call for a name, many are 

 only a matter of personal vanity <tr jiersonal keenness of eye-sight, 

 or aiiijity to distinguish various iuunentional)le shades of one and 



