Reviews

EDITED BY REBECCA L. HOLBERTON

Thefollowing critiques express the opinions ofthe individual evaluators regarding the strengths, weaknesses,and value of thebooks they review. As such,the appraisals are subjective assessments and do not necessarilyreflect the opinions of theeditors or any officialpolicy of theAmerican Ornithologists'Union.

TheAuk 117(4):1084-1085,2000

The Origin and Evolution of Birds, 2nd Edi- aminedmore closely b'yChinese paleontologists, it tion.--Alan Feduccia. 1999. Yale University Press, wasfound to be a compositefossil consisting of the New Haven, Connecticut.x + 466 pp., numeroustext body of a bird and the tail of a dromaeosauriddi- figures.ISBN 0-300-07861-1.Paper, $29.95--This is nosaur;it wasput togetherby a cleverChinese farm- the secondand paperbackedition of Alan Feduccia's er on whose land the fossils were found and who re- outstandingcoverage of the origin and evolutionof alized that a completefossil was morevaluable than birds(see Auk 114:531-534 for my reviewof theorig- its parts.The farmer had completely fooled those sci- inal 1997 edition). This edition containssome defi- entistswho saw just what they wanted to see:a nite improvements,including being printed on bet- feathereddinosaur. This caseis rathertypical of the ter paperwith a substantialincrease in the qualityof confusionbeing generated in boththe scientificand the illustrationsand a lowercost that places this vol- lay journalsto publishin hasteon newlydiscovered umewithin reachof mostornithologists. Aside from fossils. a new final chapterentitled "T. rexwas no Four-Ton Equallyimportant to consideris thatmost of the Roadrunner and Other Revelations," and the addi- avianand otherMesozoic fossils pertinent to under- tionalcitations that are integratedin the references, standingthe originand early evolution of birdshave the material in this edition is the same as the first edi- not been sufficientlyprepared, described,and ana- tion. lyzed.We have been most fortunate in thelarge num- TheOrigin and Evolution of Birdsis still by far the ber of spectacularnew avian fossilsdiscovered over besttreatment of the subjectthat is currentlyavail- the past two decades,but mostof thesespecimens able. In the new final chapter,Feduccia discusses are knownonly by their namesand the barestof de- clearlyand comprehensivelythe ongoingcontrover- scriptions.The best-knownearly avian fossilis still sy surrounding avian and some dinosaur Mesozoic Archaeopteryx,which many avian paleontologists fossils, the occurrence of feathers in nonavian now believe to be a member of the Sauriurae and groups,and the origin of birdseither from dinosaurs closelyrelated to the Enantiornithes--theopposite or from someother groupwithin the archosaurian birds--and not part of the other large group of reptiles.Again, his treatmentof this controversyis birds--the Ornithurae--whichgave rise to modern reasonable,especially within the constraintsof the birds.Thus, Archaeopteryx, even though it is thebest- currently availableinformation about these fossils. knownearly aviantaxon, appears to be off the main Theproblems in dealingwith-this material are enor- lineageleading to the large survivingradiation of mous, and I have great admirationfor Feduccia's birds and thus would be of lessimportance to our abilityand patience to delvethrough the burgeoning understandingof theevolution of birds.What is now literatureon thesesubjects, and especiallyfor his neededis muchpreparatory work and carefulde- skill in separatingfact from fiction. scriptionof the availablefossil specimens, and then An exampleof the problemsin this latter area is analysisand comparisonof the characteristicsof the recentarticle by C. P.Sloan, "Feathers for T.rex," these taxa. thatappeared in theNovember 1999 issue of National TheOrigin andEvolution of Birdsis the outstanding Geographic.The articlefeatured a new fossildiscov- treatmentof what is now knownabout this subject, ery from the Cretaceousof Chinanamed Archaeorap- but muchmore remains to be learned.Hopefully, the tor. This fossil was hailed as a feathered dinosaur and necessarypreparation and descriptionof theseMe- as further proof that many dinosaurspossessed sozoicfossils will be donewithout further delay so feathers and that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Un- that we canlook forward,perhaps in a decade,to a fortunately,however, when this specimenwas ex- new edition of this book that will providea much

1084 October2000] Reviews 1085 better accountof avian evolutionaryhistory. 'Until This chaptercontains data availablein 1965on mor- then, I can recommend the current edition of Fed- phologicalmeasurements of geeseshot by huntersor uccia'sbook without hesitationto all ornithologists collectedfor scientificpurposes. Several extensive ta- and othersinterested in the origin and evolutionary bles include these data which, in some cases, have historyof birds.--WALTERJ. BOCK,Department of Bi- been analyzed little beyondthe raw state.For those ologicalSciences, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam interestedin reanalyzingdata for comparativepur- Avenue, Mail Box 5521, New York, New York 10027, poses,however, this and other chaptersprovide a USA. rich sourceof data. This chapteralso contains com- parisonsof plumagecharacteristics for the largesub- speciesof Canada Geese.Hanson describesseveral featuresof Giant Canada Geeseplumage, including the high incidenceof white neck rings and white foreheadpatches. In this chapter,however, Hanson revealsthe circular reasoningthat has plaguedhis The Auk 117(4):1085-1087, 2000 hypothesesfor the past two decades:despite point- ing out in the next chapterthat the rangeof B. c. max- The Giant Canada Goose, Revised Edition.- imais definedprimarily by the prairie biome,he in- Harold C. Hanson. 1997.Southern Illinois University dicatesthat a populationof CanadaGeese nesting in Press, Carbondale. xxvi + 252 pp., 78 black-and- westernIdaho may be maximabased on their size.Al- white plates,31 tables,21 figures.ISBN 0-521-63326- thoughit is easyto criticizea text written in the early 5. Cloth, $29.95.--The first edition of The Giant Can- 1960s, Hanson has not modified his view that vari- ada Goose,published in 1965, was a classicmono- ationin size and plumageis primarily geneticallyde- graphspanning topics such as the rediscovery of this termineddespite much evidence to the contrary(Van subspecies(once thought extinct) to its current an- Wagner and Baker 1990). nual changesin body compositionand its nutrition. In Chapter3, whichdescribes the historic breeding As acknowledgedin the preface,the revisededition range of maxima,Hanson argues that maximawas reproducesthe first edition in its entirety and adds primarily a bird of the midcontinental prairies threeappendices, the only new materialin the book. whose range extendedinto deciduousforest east of However,the world has changedconsiderably in the the prairiesand the areassurrounding the Great last 35 years,and readersof the revisededition who Lakes. Generally, Hanson'saccount is an interesting might be expectingcurrent material will find this compilationof historicalrecords except for the odd text to be out-of-date. Nevertheless, for readers that hypothesisthat the large Canada Geesein western havenot readthe originaledition, the revisededition Idaho were maxima.The suggestionthat the geesein providesan interestingview into the world of zool- westernIdaho, far removedfrom other purported ogy in the mid-1960s.Because the original edition Giant Canada Geese, were maxima is based on mor- makesup more than 90% of the revised edition, in phology.Hansoffs reasoning here is circularand ig- this review ! describethe original edition plus the noresmuch more recent work demonstrating(1) sub- new material. stantial genetic differencesamong C•anadaGoose The revisedGiant Canada Goose consists of 15 chap- subspecies(Shields and Wilson 1987, Van Wagner ters and three appendices.Chapter 1 is a delightful and Baker1990), and (2) the significantrole that en- history of the rediscoveryof the Giant Canada vironmentalfactors play in determiningmorpholo- Goose,Branta canadensis maxima, which was thought gy (Aubin et al. 1993, Leafloor et al. 1998, Sedinger to be extinctin the first half of the 20th century.Han- et al. 1998). A lot of wonderful historical information sonincludes excerpts from numerousletters between occursin this chapter,but Hansoffsfailure to come scientists(including Grinnell), amateur goose enthu- to termswith muchresearch over the past two de- siasts,and federal and state biologistsfrom 1922 to cades diminishes the value of some of his conclu- 1940.Correspondence froln AlexanderWetmore and sionsin this chapter. Ira Gabrielsonis alsoreproduced in thischapter. The Chapters4 and 5 coverthe periodsof migration lettersprovide an engagingview of a time when the and the wintering grounds, respectively.Hanson mostprominent ornithologists were alsoinvolved in usescaptures and recoveriesof banded geeseto es- appliedquestions of interestto the generalpublic. Of tablishrelationships between breeding and molting course,except for museums,ornithological research areasor wintering areas.In Chapters6 and 7, Han- was supportedonly if it had a directlyapplied na- son describesgoose nesting, growth, and develop- ture. Today's scientistscould, nevertheless,learn ment, and in Chapter8, he describesplumage and from the interactionsamong these different groups morphologicalcharacteristics of the sexand ageclas- who had an interest in Canada Geese. ses. In Chapter2, the authoranalyzes physical char- In Chapter 9, Hanson describesthe foods and acteristicsof B.c. maximaand relatedsubspecies, in- feedinghabits of geese.Limited data existedat the cluding B.c. canadensis,B.c. interior,and B.c. moffitti. time Hansonoriginally wrote this chapterin which