106 
T1IR CONDOR 
Vol. XI 
the camp thus furnishing a healthful vacation 
recreation full of the intensest of a boy’s 
pleasures. 
CORRESPONDENCE 
Editor The Condor: — 
Will you permit me to lay aside, for the time 
being, any connection with The Condor it 
may be my privilege to claim, and to address 
you simply as a Cooper Club member and 
reader of this magazine. 
Owing to the fact that something over a page 
of valuable space in the last number of The 
Condor was devoted to criticism of my state- 
ments, and that at least a part of it was not 
based upon facts, 1 feel that in justice to myself 
it is necessary to answer these strictures, much 
as I dislike to burden yourself and Condor 
readers with a useless argument. 
Judge Henderson begins by calling attention 
to “ several erroneous citations” which, when 
boiled down, are found to number just three, 
in one of which Judge Henderson is entirely 
at fault, and in the remaining two his criticism 
is so far fetched as to be purely a matter of 
personal opinion. He follows this with an out- 
line of ‘‘The Early Western Surveys,” with 
which most of us became familiar about the 
time we were learning how to use an identifi- 
cation key. 
Now I do not intend to enter into a discus- 
sion of the merits of Henderson’s criticism, 
because it is not of sufficient importance. I 
wish, however, to cpiote my authority for my 
use of the phrases “a United States Geological 
Survey bulletin “and “United .States Geological 
Survey reports”, using a small “b” and “r” in 
“bulletin” and “report” respectively. In W. 
W. Cooke's “Birds of Colorado,” State Agri- 
cultural College, Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, Bulletin No. 37, page 27, will be found 
my authority for the first phrase; and on page 
31 will be found my authority for the second 
phrase. At the time I used these phrases I 
considered them accurate enough for the use to 
which I put them. Since that time I have not 
changed my mind, and under date of April 8, 
1909, Prof. Cooke himself writes me that he is 
of the same opinion. 
Had Judge Henderson taken the trouble to 
look up the date of the first publication of 
Ridway’s “Maxwell’s Colorado Museum” in- 
stead of guessing at it, he would have saved 
himself from making the very error that he 
accuses me of making. Notwithstanding his 
statement to the contrary, this list was first 
publish t in 1877 in “ Field and Forest." and 
my authority for this statement will be found 
in Cooke’s “Birds of Colorado” on page 45, 
which is corroborated by Prof. Cooke in his 
letter of April 8th mentioned above. 
Only one objection can be made to Prof. 
Felger’s statements and that is that the facts 
are not as he has stated them. The Rocky 
Mountain Pine Grosbeak record is not Prof. 
Felger’s record any more than it is mine, and 
his statement that the bird was taken by him 
and subsequently shown to me is also incorrect. 
As a matter of fact, at the time the record in 
question was made Prof. Felger was my guest 
and he was with me at the time the bird was 
taken. Whether he or I happened to kill the 
bird does not affect the ownership of the record 
in the least. 1 1 is statement that the bird was 
taken July 8th instead of July 3rd, as stated in 
my Mesa County List, carries very little weight 
in the absence of proof. My notes are plain 
on this particular point, and I shall require 
more than Felger’s unsupported statement to 
the contrary to induce me to recognize his 
alleged correction. Even admitting that he is 
correct, for the sake of argument, the spirit 
which prompted the publication of such a cor- 
rection is too apparent to call for any remarks. 
Now, in conclusion, I wish to state that 1 at 
all times welcome criticism and corrections of 
my work, when it is offered in a friendly spirit 
and is sincere, and I am continually asking for 
criticism and advice from those Ornithological 
friends whom I consider competent to criticize , 
but when one or more persons resort to the 
columns of a standard magazine as a means of 
discrediting me before its readers, for the satis- 
faction of a personal grudge, I feel that it is 
my privilege and my duty to myself to answer 
such attacks. 
Very truly yours, 
Robt. B. Rockwell. 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
The Third Edition of Bailey’s ‘Hand- 
book of Birds of the Western United 
STATES ' 1 appeared early in the year and 
attests to the popularity of the work. It 
remains our only good local text-book of birds, 
and we hope that further editions will be 
warranted in the not distant future. 
The third edition of the "Handbook” pre- 
sents no decided alterations as compared with 
the first and second. However, all errors dis- 
covered have been corrected, many of the pho- 
tographs of bird-skins have been replaced with 
drawings, and the forms of Astragalinus have 
been revised in the text to accord with the late 
rulings of the A. O. U. Committee. — J. G. 
Birds and Mammals of the 1907 Alexan- 
der FJxpedition to Southeastern Alaska. 
By Joseph Grinnell, Edmund ITeller, 
Frank Stephens, and Joseph Dixon. Univ. 
i Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston; $3.50. 
