930 
extending its scope and practically rewriting 
it, until the present volume came out of it. 
Entomologists, orchardists, farmers and teach- 
ers are all indebted to Professor Sanderson 
for bringing together the scattered up-to-date 
information presented in this book. Many 
control methods and remedies recommended 
in previous works have recently been super- 
seded and are therefore out of date. 
The subject matter of the volume in ques- 
tion is well presented, and the illustrations for 
the most part are satisfactory, though one 
questions if it is not better to use photo- 
graphs entirely of spraying apparatus rather 
than the trade cuts from manufacturers’ 
catalogues. Some other ancient cuts have also 
been used which do not add to the usefulness 
or attractiveness of the volume. Most of the 
illustrations are excellent, a goodly number 
are original, and many have appeared before 
in entomological journals and experiment sta- 
tion bulletins, due credit being given. It is 
perhaps impossible to prepare and print a 
work of this magnitude without finding some 
errors in it, but the errors in this volume are 
mostly typographical, and can easily be cor- 
rected in future editions. A few of the illus- 
trations are badly printed, but in most re- 
spects the mechanical production of the book 
leaves nothing to be desired. 
The work should supply a distinct need, and 
ought to be placed on the shelves of all libra- 
ries. 
W. E. Britton 
TERMS USED TO DENOTE THE ABUN- 
DANCE OR RARITY OF BIRDS 
WHEN reading lists of birds, which indicate 
their abundance or rarity, it is often very diffi- 
cult to tell just how common or how rare a 
bird is, for it is seldom that any two people 
use the same scale of terms. In fact few have 
any definitely graded scale, most preferring to 
write them as they are needed, and conse- 
quently, without realizing, they have a long 
illogical list of terms. Those most frequently 
adopted are given below. JI have limited my- 
self to eight, which are: abundant, common, 
frequent, uncommon, occasional, rare, scarce 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 911 
and irregular. Together with other terms 
that are used I have given my reasons for not. 
using them. Those which I have selected 
have been proposed chiefly, and all agreed to 
by Mr. C. William Beebe. 
Abundant. 
Very Common is the same as Abundant, for 
Abundant means More Common than Common. 
Common. 
Plentiful means the same as Abundant or Com- 
mon. 
Usually Common or Usually Rare are the same 
as Common or Rare, for we are writing about 
what the bird usually is, so Usually may be 
omitted. 
Quite Common. The real meaning of Quite is 
‘completely’? or ‘‘wholly.’’? It is wrongly 
used to indicate ‘‘to a considerable extent.’’ 
Thus Quite Common, correctly used, means no 
more than Completely Common, or simply 
Common. 
Not Uncommon is equal to Common. 
Tolerably Common is usually used to mean 
Fairly Common, but thus used it is a very 
meaningless word, as tolerably means that 
which can be endured. If one wishes to use 
it as meaning Fairly Common, he can just as 
well use the latter word or, instead of these, 
Frequent. 
Frequent. 
Often Seen is the same as Frequent. 
Usually Tolerably Common is the same as Tol- 
erably Common, which is the same as Frequent. 
Fairly Plentiful is the same as Fairly Common. 
Fairly Common is the same as Frequent. 
Uncommon. 
Infrequent is the same as Uncommon or Occa- 
sional. 
Not Common is Uncommon. 
Occasional. 
Sometimes Seen is Occasional. 
Accidental is Occasional or Rare. 
Rare. 
Very Rare is using an unnecessary adverb, for 
Rare is Very Rare, and to use the latter, only 
makes a list more confusing and difficult to 
understand. 
Scarce. 
Scarce does not mean the same as Rare, but 
indicates that the bird mentioned was at some 
previous time Common, but that it has since 
decreased in numbers until it is now Rare. 
Very Scarce means Scarce (Very is unnecessary). 
