14 THe A UD UB OUNGeB UY Dee 
The Holtons declined to band the Beeps as that would have been 
“disloyal” to their little friends. They never tell us how they distinguished 
them from others of their kind, except that Beep (in China) had a tiny 
white spot on his forehead. 
The photographs of the Beeps taken in China show them to be Passer 
montanus. Mrs. Holton is at pains to explain that they were Passer mon- 
tanus montanus, and not one of the Chinese subspecies, the points of 
difference being the size of the cheek patch—large in the Beeps, a “tiny 
polka-dot” in the Chinese tree sparrow. Mr. E. R. Blake showed me two 
trays of skins of Passer montanus in the Field Museum; neither Mr. Blake 
nor I could detect any difference in the size of the auricular patch between 
P. m. montanus and P. m. saturatus, malaccensis and taivanensis. 
To return to the start of the story in Kansas City; one small difficulty 
here is that European tree sparrows do not occur in Kansas City. Intro- 
duced in St. Louis in 1870 they have never been recorded more than 50 
miles west of that city—some 180 miles from Kansas City. So the original 
Beeps must have been English sparrows. The Beeps in China were Chinese 
tree sparrows. The Beeps in San Francisco and New York were English 
sparrows, indigenous to each locality. Apparently wherever the Holtons 
went they found “Beeps”. 
This is a fairy story if ever there was one, yet it is presented as fact. 
“In recording this true story of the Beeps,” writes Mrs. Holton, “I have 
endeavored to confine myself closely to scientific observations and not to 
let my mind wander into the fertile field of the imagination.” (p. 15.) The 
Holtons seem to believe what they are telling us; they present it as a 
“beautiful true story of loyalty, courage, and unselfish devotion”, with no 
conception of the amazing claims they are making for physical and mental 
performance by a sparrow. 
The Holtons have various eye-witnesses, but never exhibited their extra- 
ordinary birds to an ornithologist. Nor, apparently, did the publisher ask 
the advice of any ornithologist. This book has made quite a stir in popular 
circles. All that is necessary is to point out that the Beeps in this country 
must have been English sparrows, since European tree sparrows do not 
occur in Kansas City, and that the Beeps in China were Chinese tree 
sparrows, and the whole story collapses. 
Chicago, Illinois 
FI fl ff 
Lineoln Park Bird Trips 
THE ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY sponsored trips for bird study every 
Saturday morning during April and May. This was the second annual 
series of these Lincoln Park trips. They were very well attended and 
proved profitable in bird lore and fresh air exercise for both the director 
of the trips, Miss Doris A. Plapp, Secretary of the Society, and the other 
participants. The starting point was the Chicago Academy of Sciences, 
2001 N. Clark Street, the group circling south for a time, later turning north 
and continuing through the park past Diversey Beach, Belmont Harbor, 
and completing the trip by circling the sanctuary at Addison Street. About 
eighty-two species were observed and identified. Following is the list: 
