July, 1912 
B:dITORIAL XOTlvS 
155 
THE CONDOR 
A. Magazine of 
Western OrnitKology 
Published Bi-Mon<hly by the 
Cooper Ornitholo^icsl Club 
J. GRINNELL, Editor, Berkeley, CssLliforaia 
HARRY S. SWARTH. Associate Editor 
J. EUGENE LAW 1 „ . „ 
W. LEE CHAMBERS j Managers 
Hollywood, California: Published July 30, 1912 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES 
One Dollar and Fifty Cents per Year in the United States, 
Canada, Mexico and U.S. Colonie.s, payable in advance 
Thirty Cents the single copy. 
One Dollar and Seventy-five Cents per Year in all other 
countries in the International Postal Union. 
Claims for missing or imperfect numbers should be 
made within thirty days of date of i.sstie. 
Subscriptions and Exchanges should be .sent to the 
lUisine.ss Manager. 
MaLnuscripts for publication, and Books and Peepers 
for review, should be .sent to the Hditor. 
Advertising Rales on application. 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
Ornithologists have always found difficulty 
in satisfactorily expressing the varying de- 
grees of abundance of the species in a region. 
In spite of efforts to attain to an accurate 
diagnosis tlirougli statistical methods, no 
practically workalilc sciienie is forthcoming. 
We still rely on various words, of very in- 
definite meaning to lie sure, but which give 
to the mind some notion of numbers of indi- 
viduals as compared witli what tliey miglit lie 
under ideal circumstances. 
In Science for June 14, 1912, page 930, Mr. 
John l.)ryden ivuser calls attention to the 
multiplicity of words used, and misused, to 
designate relative abundance. He chooses a 
scale of eight members, as providing to his 
mind a workable nomenclature of occurrence. 
These are : abundant, common, frequent, un- 
common, occasional, rare, scarce and irregular. 
To our minds just four terms come nearer 
the ticket : abundant, common, fairly com- 
mon. and rare. "Fairly common" equals 
Kuser’s "frequent”, the latter being objection- 
able liecause of equivocal meaning. Any 
closer definition, short of actual censuses, 
seems to us futile. Of course other qualifying 
terms may he employed to advantage. A win- 
ter visitant may be common, and either regu- 
larly or irregularly so. Another species may 
he rare hut regular in its appearance, or it 
may he rare and casual ( that is. "accidental”, 
though we dislike the latter term). Uncom- 
mon, occasional, rare, and scarce, are too 
nearly synonymous to he serviceable ail at the 
same time; "rare” is sufficient. 
In this connection we wish to point out the 
rtagrant misuse of the word "resident” in 
many lists and even authoritative text-books, 
where birds are described as being "summer 
residents" or "winter residents". Explicitly. 
resident means inhabiting a region continually, 
that is, throughout the year. Birds are either 
resident or non-resident ( migrant ) ; if of the 
latter class, they are either summer visitants, 
winter visitants or transients. A "visitant” 
may remain a few days in midwinter only, or 
it may he with us six months including the 
breeding season. A transient is, as a rule, a 
species which summers wholly north of the 
particular locality concerned and winters south 
of it ; so that it occurs only during the period 
of migration. 
The four seasonal categories of birds may 
therefore lie correctly alluded to as resident, 
summer visitant, winter visitant, and transient. 
Relative lunnhcrs of individuals involved may 
lie denoted by the terms abundant, common, 
fairly common, and rare. 
Should the aliove suggestions have aroused 
difference of opinion on the part of any of our 
readers, we would he glad to pulilish open let- 
ters upon the subject. — ^J. G. 
Mr. George Willett is spending the months 
of July and August in the vicinity of Sitka. 
•Maska, where lie is making a study of the 
bird-life on the St. Lazaria Bird Reservation. 
This work is being carried on under the di- 
rection of Dr. T. S. Palmer and in the inte- 
rests of the National Association of Audu- 
bon Societies. 
Mr. Alexander Wetmore is stationed for 
the year in Porto Rico, where lie is conduc- 
ting investigations into the economic rela- 
tions of the native birds under the auspices 
of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Mr. 
Wetmore reports a successful time so far. 
Porto Rican birds are relatively few in spe- 
cies, hut many individually, and arc thus im- 
portant to local interests. 
Pacific Coast Avifauna numbers 7 and 8 
will he mailed free to Cooper Cluli members 
about August first. Number 7 is Willett’s 
Birds of the Pacific Slope of Southern Cali- 
fornia; number 8 is ./ Systeniatie List of the 
Birds of California by J Grinnell. 
T he Editors lieg to remind Cooper Club 
members that short "Field and Study" notes 
are of usually greater interest to the average 
reader of The Condor, than the longer and 
more formal genera! articles. The season's 
experiences should have provided each one 
of ns with information worth contributing in 
this way. 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
A History of | the Birds of Colorado | By 
William Lutley Sclater | M. A. fete, two 
lines], i With seventeen Plates and a Map | 
Witherhy & Co. | 326 High Holborn London | 
1912 I 8vo, pp. i-xxiv. 1-576 (Cloth, $5.00 
net ). 
