34 The Wilson Bulletin. 



an individual therefore different from every other bird, and there- 

 fore representing, in its individual capacity, some line of varia- 

 tion, it will be impossible to determine the ultimate variations in 

 ornithological classification until the last individual bird has 

 been critically examined. Manifestly this is a logical reasoning. 

 It is possible, however, to place a limit upon the extent to which 

 variation shall be recognized in classification. It may be safe to 

 assume that in any well-defined region of limited extent, where 

 practically all conditions are the same throughout this region, 

 that there will be no variation worthy of notice among the spe- 

 cies inhabiting it. But of course there will be a degree of varia- 

 tion. If, as the author argues, we must go into these slight indi- 

 vidual variations, then his argument that all birds are doomed 

 stands out clearly. 



We are pleased to note that the author does not place the ban 

 upon killing birds for any purpose whatsoever. He recognizes 

 the claims of those who are pursuing lines of original investiga- 

 tion, but limits the privilege to those persons. His argument, 

 therefore, has the more weight for this conservative attitude. 

 We believe that the time when collecting for the sake of building 

 up a small private collection for selfish purposes, with no notion 

 of making a contribution to our knowledge of birds by means of 

 that collection, lies in the past. We have outgrown that. 



While the author assumes an extreme attitude toward those 

 who kill birds for "scientific" purposes in general, we believe the 

 note of warning is not wholly out of place, and should be one of 

 the influences for checking the tendency to unduly reduce the 

 bird life of the country.— L. J. 



Birds of North and Middle America. By Robert Ridgway. 

 Part I. Fringillidse. United States National Museum, Wash- 

 ington, 1). C, 1901. 



It is a pleasure to record the appearance of a book which treats 

 of the Fringillidse of the whole of North America, and to note 

 that it is but the first of its kind. When those which are to fol- 

 low are finished, we shall have, for the first time, the whole North 

 American bird fauna. The check-list of North American birds 

 has always been misleading to the uninitiated. The unfortunate 

 necessity of putting limitations upon a well-defined geographical 

 region has, of course, been manifest, but we trust that this neces- 

 sity may be disappearing witli the better facilities of travel and 

 the greater activities of naturalists. 



This volume of 715 pages, and some 30 pages of prefatory mat- 

 ter, supplemented by 20 admirably executed plates illustrating 

 the heads, wings, tail and feet of type species, is one of the most 

 important books upon birds published. It fitly opens the new cen- 

 tury as a most important work. 



This volume is concerned with a single family, the Fringillidse 



