12 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Four pages of matter are set forth, in plain 

 and simple English, under the following heads: 

 "adult male," "adult female," "natal down," 

 "first year plumage, male," "second autumn 

 molt, male." The measurements are all there, 

 throughout. 



Finally, the last half page of the twelve pages 

 of text is devoted to "Early History and Synon- 

 oinv." The barbed wire entanglement is only 

 three inches high, and the reader can leave it 

 and hurry away from it as rapidly as he chooses. 

 The specimen chapter cited above may be 

 taken as a fair average of the treatment award- 

 ed each species of the twenty-four described in 

 this initial volume. For some others the text far 

 exceeds the twelve pages of our example. The 

 justly celebrated Himalayan Impeyan Pheasant 

 is accorded thirty-four pages of text and many 

 illustrations, including six photogravures of its 

 haunts, its nest and eggs. 



The Kuser-Beebe "Monograph of the Pheas- 

 ants" is from the famous press of Witherby & 

 Company, London, a firm justly celebrated for 

 the production of sumptuous works on zoological 

 subjects, and particularly birds. 



Stated categorically. Volume I consists of a 

 preface by Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, 

 twenty-nine pages of "Introduction" to the 

 pheasants of the world by Mr. Beebe, and 198 

 pages of text. There are twenty colored plates, 

 by G. E. Lodge, A. Thorburn and Charles R. 

 Knight, and thirty-one photogravures from the 

 authors photographs. The colored plates in- 

 clude adult birds of both sexes, young in various 

 stages, wattles on a large scale, and many eggs. 

 There are five large maps of geographical dis- 

 tribution, the first of which shows the distribu- 

 tion of all the pheasants. The net size of each 

 colored plate is 8 1 j x II ! ■_• inches, the type bed 

 of the text is l 1 '^ x 10% inches, and the size of 

 the bound volume over all is 12 x 16% inches. 

 The binding is maroon cloth, with gilt title and 

 side stamp. The typography, paper and press 

 work is everything that could be desired in such 

 a work, and the absence of padding is gratefully 

 evident. 



Now that peace has been declared, the war's 

 delays that for three years retarded the appear- 

 ance of Volume I will not be so seriously oper- 

 ative against the three remaining volumes. The 

 text is fully complete and ready for the printer, 

 the illustrations have actually been printed, and 

 there would seem to be no reason for a long de- 

 lay in the finish. We are assured that the work 

 remaining will be completed with all possible 

 diligence. 



In conclusion, and viewed dispassionately, the 

 Kuser-Beebe "Monograph of the Pheasants" is 

 a great work, and a new departure in the mak- 

 ing of works of its class. Distinctly, it sets a 

 higher standard in the illumination of zoological 

 groups. It represents years of labor, the ex- 

 penditure of a great sum of money, and the best 

 artistic talent in bird portrayal in colors. Judged 

 by this first volume, the finished work will be 

 worth to the world all that it has cost. No doubt 

 all ornithologists and zoologists will take pride 

 in the fact that American genius and enterprise 

 has produced the world's most perfect zoological 

 monograph. To Col. Kuser, Mr. Beebe, the 

 various artists represented, and the publisher 

 we sav — well done! 



BIRD NOTES FROM SOUTH AMERICA 



I. The Truth About Gathering Egret 

 Plumes in Venezuela 



FOR fully five years, the plumage trade in 

 Paris and the plume exporters of Vene- 

 zuela have at intervals been advancing 

 handsomely embroidered stories of "egret 

 farms" on the Orinoco. Quite recently the 

 feather exporters of Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, 

 framed up elaborate representations to the 

 United States Treasury Department, intended 

 to open the way for egret plume exports to the 

 United States. Unfortunately, however, the 

 evidence was lacking in American flavor and 

 verisimilitude, and the ports of the United 

 States have remained tightly closed. 



Meanwhile Lieut. Leo E. Miller, a trained 

 zoological collector for the American Museum 

 of Natural History, has spent six years in field 

 work among the birds and mammals of South 

 America. Finally, before becoming a "bird 

 man" in the United States army in France, he 

 wrote a thrillingly interesting book. Its title is 

 "In the Wilds of South America," and its pub- 

 lishers are the Scribner's of New York (.$■*. 50), 

 and it should at once find its way into every 

 library of zoology, travel and adventure. 



In the most nonchalant and matter-of-fact 

 way. as coming all in the day's work, Lieut. 

 Miller has recorded certain things about the 

 gathering of egret plumes in Venezuela, along 

 the Orinoco in the region of the alleged "egret 

 farms" of which we have heard so much. For 

 example, on page 148: 



"The Arauca is a river of considerable size, 

 and is said to be bordered by vast marshes and 

 swamps, the home of countless egrets and other 



