THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
r>,s 
and “editions de luxe’’ rather overwhelming to the strident who has been acens- 
tomed to regard an outlay of a few dollars for bird books as something of an ex- 
travagance. So much depends upon the point of view ! The present writer 
implicitly believes that certain books should most undoubtedly be made to sell 
cheaply. A hand book designed to help the beginner should certainly be issued 
in such a way as to most surely reach the audience for which it is intended. 
On the other hand, that which is too easily obtained is apt to be held in but 
slight esteem. ‘‘The Birds of California” is not issued as a hand book, nor should 
it be compared with a dry and technical check list. It is a magnificent and ar- 
tistic handling of a beautiful subject. Whoever secures a copy will have made 
sufficient of a sacrifice to obtain it to cause him to place high value upon his pos- 
session, a value it will amply deserve. 
The originality and charm of Dawson’s style is all his own, but with all his 
variety of expression there can be no doubt of his constant and conscious striving 
for accuracy. Perfection, of course, is attainable to none, but there is vast dififer- 
Fig. 18. The Baird Sandpiper 
From a photograph, copyright 1913. by W. E. Dawson 
ence between error of judgment and that of intent. A mere fact is of itself of no 
value. Different statements of the same fact will differ in value precisely as the 
men who report them differ in imaginative power. The man we listen to is he 
who lets his imagination play about a fact, who is able to see its relationships, 
and hence invests it with real value and interest. 
The application of this test to Mr. Dawson’s work apparently gives the real 
cine to the philosophy of his writings. He does not feel called upon to serve 
some such abstraction as Truth or Science, so much as to proclaim nozv, be it 
more or less complete, what may later on, after further assimilation, be readjust- 
ed and receive a different value from that accorded it today. In comparison with 
this attitude we may consider the opposite type, also found among us, the man 
who sits back and gloats over the realization that he has in his possession a vast 
store of accurate knowledge of some particular subject, known to no one else 
