Vd S* V ] Recent Literature. 363 



The last part comprises nearly two-thirds of the entire report and to the 

 student of the Tubinares is the most important portion. It treats of the 

 forty-four species obtained by the expedition and goes into great detail 

 regarding variation in size and coloration, migration and habits. A v st 

 and important addition is made to our knowledge of these birds but the 

 evidence presented may very likely be interpreted differently by other 

 students of the group, where it relates to the systematic arrangement of 

 the forms. 



In the section treating of classification and nomenclature Mr. Loomis 

 considers all the known species, which he reduces to eighty-six in number, 

 and gives his views upon these matters more concisely. His attitude as is 

 well known is extremely conservative in regard to the recognition of spe- 

 cies while subspecies he rejects entirely. To quote his own statement of 

 his views : " Some ornithologists would differentiate all discernible geographic 

 variation into subspecies: others would make selections and have 'practi- 

 cal subspecies.' Under the first method the separations become so fine 

 that even typical examples can scarcely be determined. Under the second 

 method the separations rest largely on the shifting sands of individual 



opinion In the present paper geographic variation is considered in 



connection with the other variations of species, the subspecies theory being 

 discarded as a theory that has outlived its usefulness." 



The flaw in Mr. Loomis's solution of this vexing question is that he 

 presumes that "species" are things definitely established while as a matter 

 of fact they are matters of personal opinion just as are " subspecies" and 

 his action simply shifts the issue from determining which subspecies shall 

 be recognized to deciding which forms are species and which are subspecies. 

 When the custom of recognizing geographic forms by name, either bi- 

 nomially or trinomially, is practically universal, and when students will 

 agree upon the majority of such forms quite as readily as they will upon the 

 number of "species" that are to be recognized, it seems that the value of 

 a work is impaired in which such an ultra-conservative attitude is main- 

 tained. 



Mr. Loomis has always been an ardent student of bird migration and his 

 numerous contributions to the subject are well known, so that one turns 

 with especial interest to the chapter dealing with this fascinating problem 

 in order to learn his present views. These we find rather disappointing 

 inasmuch as he adheres closely to the old idea that "the young learn to 

 migrate through the example of the adults." and "that the adults are 

 guided by physical phenomena over areas that experience has rendered 

 familiar." Dr. John B. Watson's well known experiments with Noddy 

 and Sooty Terns are considered but the attempts to explain away the 

 necessity for Dr. Watson's conclusion that the birds were able to find their 

 way back to their nesting ground over waters hitherto unknown to them, 

 are by no means convincing. As regards the "return" migration Mr. 

 Loomis discounts the part that physiological incentive plays in starting 

 the birds back to their summer homes with such astonishing regularitv of 



