30 



THE CONDOR 



Vol.. IX 



up by the ichthyologists at Stanford. As far 

 as we are able to learn, the ornithological re- 

 sults of the expedition were relatively unim- 

 portant. 



PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 



The present reviewer cannot remember to 

 have ever read a book more profitable, and at 

 the same time entertaining, than Beebe's 

 "The Bird". I The brief title at first glance 

 seems to lack sufficient definiteness as to the 

 real nature of the subject-matter. The book 

 has nothing to do with systematic ornithology: 

 species are mentioned merely incidentally; but 

 a multitude of subjects related to evolution and 

 adaptation are dealt with. After all, as we 

 think it over, the book does treat of the bird, 

 inclusively and broadly. Yet one must have 

 read and studied the whole book to compre- 

 hend its scope. 



Our first pleasure was in simply ' 'looking at 

 the pictures." Every one of the 371 illustra- 

 tions are significant per se of some fact of bird 

 structure or habit: One does not have to read 

 the context to gain at least some suggestion of 

 what the pictures are meant to show. There is 

 every indication that Mr. Beebe has spent 

 plenty of time in securing the most instructive 

 photos for the bringing out of each desired 

 point. 



And the text is as good as the pictures. The 

 style is non-technical, but not too "popular" 

 in most places. Here and there, there is a 

 shade too much of literary ornateness. which to 

 our minds does not strictly harmonize with the 

 scientific treatment of a subject. But this is so 

 inconsequential a criticism, that we feel almost 

 ashamed to have ventured it. 



The following are a few of the subjects dis- 

 cussed: The ancestors of birds; growth and 

 structure of feathers; framework of a bird; or- 

 gans of nutrition (tongues, crops, gizzards); 

 food and feeding-habits of various birds; breath 

 of a bird; senses; wing-structure and flight; 

 theories of coloration; the bird within the egg. 



Beebe's "The Bird" is an extraordinary book, 

 and we advise our readers to get this one above 

 any other work on birds of the same size. — J. G. 



"The Protection oe Our N.\tive Birds" 

 is the title of a pamphlet 2 by Professor MONT- 

 GOMERY of the University' of Texas. In the 

 publication and distribution of such carefully 



1 The Bird | Its Form and Function | Bj' | C. William 

 Beebe | Curator fete, 4 lines] 1 with over three hundred 

 and seventy illustrations | chieHy photographed from 

 life I by the author 1 [vignette] | New York | Henry Holt 

 and Company | 1906; pp. xii— 496, i plate, 371 text figures. 



2 The Protection of Our Native Birds | By | Thos. H. 

 Montgomery, Jr. | Professor of Zoology [Bulletin of the 

 University of Texas No. 79, Scientific Series No 8; Oct. i, 

 1906; pages 30]. 



and convincingly drawn up papers as this, can 

 the educational centers of each state do much 

 to spread the cause of bird protection. As Pro- 

 fessor Montgomery suggests, it is thru the 

 schools that the knowledge of the value of 

 birds can be emphasized at large. Nature 

 courses in the lower grades are most productive 

 of widespread good, it has seemed to us. The 

 econoDiic \a\n& of bird-life is what will appeal, 

 by way of the school children, to the adults of 

 the communit}' . 



The present paper presents the subject 

 strongly, and cannot fail to have its good effect. 

 So good a service has thus been done by Pro- 

 fessor Montgomery that we are quite ready to 

 pardon his extreme attitude in respect to col- 

 lectors. It is too bad, tho, that people have to 

 go to extremes ! — J. G. 



In a profound essay on "The Problem of 

 THE Origin of Species," Professor C. O. 

 Whitman briefly reviews 3 the progress of our 

 knowledge of the methods of species-formation, 

 and contributes to their further understanding. 

 While agreeing that the majority of animals 

 ma)' be subject to ordinary or fluctuating vari- 

 ation (that is, variation uniformly in all 

 directions), and that evolution in such cases 

 seems to be solelj' directed by natural selec- 

 tion (or survival of the fittest). Professor Whit- 

 man maintains that further, in some cases at 

 least, there is orthogenesis as a result of con- 

 tinuous asymmetrical or "definite" variation. 



Orthogenesis, as the present reviewer under- 

 stands it, is the evolution of a linear series of 

 descendants in a definite direction (as regards 

 some one or more specific characters), irrespec- 

 tive of the Darwinian essential of fitness or un- 

 fitness and resulting persistence or elimination 

 of individuals. This would conveniently ac- 

 count for the very beginnings of certain struct- 

 ures, now clearl}^ adaptive, but of which we 

 cannot imagine a series of useful rudimentary 

 stages. 



Professor Whitman has been a strong advo- 

 cate of experimental evolution and is himself 

 at work along that line. P^or the past ten years 

 he has had under constant observation a suc- 

 cession of generations of the common pigeon 

 {Columha livia). Supplementing these, he 

 makes use of specimens of all available wild 

 species of pigeons and doves. He has selected, 

 for reasons of convenience, as characters for 

 observation, the color-patterns shown on the 

 outer surface (coverts) of the wing. The en- 

 deavor was to find a case where he could trace 

 the history of one particular specific character. 

 An ideal case seemed to be provided by the 



3 The Problem of the Origin of Species | By Charles 

 Otis Whitman [Reprinted from "Congress of Arts and 

 Sciences, Universal E.xposition, St. Louis, 1904", Vol. V; 

 pages 18 (repaged ?j]. 



