Abstract
MR. RIDGWAY is such a well-known authority on the birds of North America that anything coming from his pen is sure to obtain a welcome at the hands of his brother ornithologists. The size of the present volume, which, as stated in its title, deals only with a single family, affords an index of the bulk and extent of the work of which it forms the commencement. The amount of labour involved in such a task is enormous and can only be properly appreciated by working naturalists. Preparations for the work, the author tells us, have been in more or less active progress for the last twenty years, and so long ago as the autumn of 1894 the task of putting together in proper form for press the vast accumulation of material was taken in hand. The labour of measuring specimens of more than 3000 forms of birds and making the necessary references to previous descriptions was, however, so vast that it has only been possible to issue the first part after this long lapse of time. It is hoped, now that much of the drudgery is accomplished, future progress may be more rapid.
The Birds of North and Middle America.
Part i. “The Fringillidæ.” By R. Ridgway. Bulletin U.S. Museum, No. 50. Pp. 715; 20 plates. (Washington, 1901.)
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L., R. The Birds of North and Middle America . Nature 66, 75 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/066075a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/066075a0