Recent Literature found in The Auk in 1903 consisted of book reviews and a list of publications received, many of which were scientific journals from around the world. All reviews were done by the editor, J. A. Allen.
The first review in this issue was of the second part of Ridgway's Birds of North and Middle America on the tanagers, troupials, honeycreepers, and wood warblers. Other important works reviewed were “Mrs.” Bailey's Handbook of Birds of the Western United States, Henshaw's Birds of the Hawaiian Islands, Snodgrass and Heller's Birds of Clipperton and Cocos Islands, Knight's Birds of Wyoming, and John Burroughs' biography of John James Audubon. Allen reviewed other ornithological journals in the April issue, including The Condor, Bird-Lore, The Wilson Bulletin, and Cassinia, the Proceedings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club of Philadelphia.
Deceased Union members included Chester Barlow, who died of tuberculosis at age 28. He is credited with being the moving force for the establishment of the Cooper Ornithological Club, in which he served as Treasurer, and was responsible for starting The Condor. He edited the first four volumes, and died several days before the fourth was published in 1902. Perry O. Simons, a noted collector of birds and mammals in Latin American, was reported to have been “assassinated” by his native guide near Cuevas, Argentina. Wilbur Clinton Knight, author of the recently published book on birds of Wyoming, died at the age of 45 afer a six-day bout of peritonitis.
A note reported that Oto Widmann's house burned while he was away on a visit to Germany, destroying his 25 years of field notes and the draft of his book on the birds of Missouri. Widmann somehow did recover from that loss, publishing A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri in 1907. Other notes reported on the formation of the Michigan Ornithological Club in Detroit and the publication of three new journals: The Warbler, The Atlantic Slope Naturalist, and The Zoological Quarterly. (The Warbler lasted the longest and was published until 1913, The Atlantic Slope Naturalist stopped in April of 1904 afer only six issues, and The Zoological Quarterly stopped afer volume 3 in 1905.) Issues of another journal, The Osprey, an illustrated monthly magazine of popular ornithology, were reviewed, but Allen noted that the journal was now six months behind in publication. He hoped that this did not signal the demise of the journal, but it did.
A final note mentions an article by Charles Adams, published in Science (18:217), establishing the breeding grounds of the Kirkland's Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii) in Michigan. In an 1898 Auk article, Frank Chapman had mentioned that the Kirkland's was the last warbler for which the nest and eggs remained unknown. In June of 1903, the University of Michigan Museum sent two collectors, E. H. Frothingham and his friend T. G. Gale, to Oscoda County, Michigan. When they returned, a specimen of a male Kirkland's Warbler was found in their collection. This represented the first specimen collected in the month of June and was only about the 30th specimen ever collected within the United States and Canada. To examine Oscoda County more carefully, the Museum sent its taxidermist, N. A. Wood, and he returned with two nests with young and one egg. Adams stated that this announcement in Science was necessary because “some unauthorized and incorrect reports had been made public.”
A new direction for Ornithological Monographs
Following extensive discussion by its Publications Committee and the Ornithological Council, the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) has decided to make changes in the format and frequency of Ornithological Monographs (OM). Instead of sporadic contributions of varying but sometimes enormous size that are sold piece-by-piece, the AOU has decided to produce OMs that are smaller, occur regularly, and will be distributed to all AOU members.
Ideally, each new OM will present an important or interesting study that needs more space than a typical article in The Auk. This might involve publishing a complete dissertation that deals with a distinct topic that might otherwise appear as three or four publications in two or three journals; or perhaps a tightly focused, succinct symposium volume. The new OMs will appear up to three times annually, be mailed with The Auk, and should total about 300 printed pages per year. Manuscripts intended for OMs should range from 50 to 200 pages, including tables and figures. Because the new OM will be produced through the new AOU Publications Office, we also hope to make them timely, such that a symposium held at a summer AOU meeting could be out in a year, or even less.
The first new OM is scheduled to appear with either the January or April 2004 issue of The Auk. If you have a large project you feel would fit into this new style or you have other questions, contact the editor, John Faaborg at faaborgj@missouri.edu. Obviously one does not want to write a 200 page manuscript that does not fit the OM goals, so communication with the editor is critical.
