Atlas of Breeding Birds of Tennessee
Author: Aborn, David A.
Source: The Auk, 118(1) : 277-278
Published By: American Ornithological Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118[0277:]2.0.CO;2
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271
Reviews
E
DITED BY
R
EBECCA
H
OLBERTON
The following critiques express the opinions of the individual evaluators regarding the strengths,
weaknesses, and value of the books they review. As such, the appraisals are subjective assessments
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or any official policy of the American
Ornithologists’ Union.
The Auk 118(1):271–272, 2001
A Photographic Guide to North American Rap-
tors.—Brian K. Wheeler and William S. Clark. 1999.
Academic Press, San Diego, California. xviii 1 198
pp., 377 color photographs. ISBN 0-12-745531-0. Pa-
per, $19.95.—Field guides are to field ornithologists
what hammers are to carpenters: essential tools of
the trade. With the right field guide in hand, even a
novice field worker in a new land stands a sporting
chance of identifying birds. Without a good field
guide, frustration can quickly set in. The role that
field guides (together with their essential compan-
ion, binoculars) have played in ornithology is diffi-
cult to overstate. Consider for example, our under-
standing of the migratory behavior of Broad-winged
Hawks (Buteo platypterus). At the beginning of the
twentieth century, this obligate transequatorial mi-
grant was thought by many to be a resident species
throughout much of its North American breeding
range. The broadwing was, after all, cryptic and dif-
ficult to see during the breeding season. The paucity
of winter broadwing sightings, confounded by their
frequent misidentification as young Red-shouldered
Hawks (B. lineatus), led even seasoned field workers
to consider the broadwing a year-round inhabitant
in many areas.
All of that changed, however, as prismatic binoc-
ulars came into widespread use among field work-
ers, leading to the development of the modern field
guide. Roger Tory Petersons A Field Guide to the Birds
(1934) and its successors, as well as other regional
bird guides revolutionized field identification of
birds. But, over the years, that was refined to the
point where the guides themselves demanded the
creation of a new kind of bird guide devoted to spe-
cific birds within a particular region.
For raptors, these new specialty guides have run
the gamut from ‘‘gestalt’’ text driven—black-and-
white illustrated offerings like Harkness and Mur-
doch’s Birds of Prey in the Field (Witherby Press, Lon-
don, 1971) and Dunne, Sibley and Suttons Hawks in
Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Mi-
grant Raptors (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1988)—
through Clark and Wheeler’s traditional full-color,
art-driven A Field Guide to Hawks in North America
(Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1987) to, finally, the col-
or-photograph-filled volume reviewed here.
Kimball L. Garrett’s excellent review of the 1995
edition of Wheeler and Clark appeared in The Auk in
1997 (Auk 114:306–307). I won’t go over previously
trodden ground here as the current edition remains
almost identical to the earlier hardcover edition ex-
cept for a new cover, some minor corrections in type-
setting, some photo reorientation, and several addi-
tions to the text that focus principally on age
differences in eye color. I will, instead, reflect on my
experiences using the earlier version and introduc-
ing it to others while working at a raptor migration
observation site in eastern Pennsylvania in the Unit-
ed States.
Anyone who has spent time in the field helping
others identify raptors knows that the new observers
will need all the help they can get. Although raptors
are relatively large birds, under many circumstances
they can be difficult, often impossible, to identify to
species level. Although part of the difficulty arises
from the fleeting glimpses we often have of the birds,
much of the problem can be traced to subtle intra-
specific variation in their appearance. In many in-
stances, plumage variation within a species can be
greater than between species, making identification
quite difficult at times. Wheeler and Clark deal with
those circumstances by presenting 377 color photo-
graphs of North American raptors and vagrants, as
compared to 33 and 193 images, respectively, in the
first (1934) Peterson bird guide and the most recent
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North
America (National Geographic Society, Washington,
D.C., 1999). In most instances, the photos in Wheeler
and Clark’s guide are crisp, clear, and helpful. Nu-
ances in species-specific coloration and individual
variation within species, including those related to
age and sex, are further detailed in the relatively
sparse text and highlighted in the volumes copious
photo legends. The book also provides an exhaustive
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272 [Auk, Vol. 118Reviews
(sometimes a bit exhausting) review of the general
complexities of raptor identification.
Does the book succeed in its avowed mission?
Most certainly, but only when used in conjunction
with other guides. Although I would not recommend
Wheeler and Clark’s volume as a first and only guide
for most hawk watchers, I would recommend it as a
supplement to other specialty raptor guides. In con-
junction with a more comprehensive bird guide, the
book can turn an otherwise frustrating day at a rap-
tor migration observation site into a rewarding ex-
perience for teacher and pupil alike. The work can
also serve as a great teaching tool away from the
field. In summary, I highly recommend this useful
guide amazingly priced at $10.00 less than its 1995
edition!—K
EITH
L. B
ILDSTEIN
, Hawk Mountain Sanc-
tuary, Kempton, Pennsylvania 19529, USA.
The Auk 118(1):272–274, 2001
Research and Management of the Brown-headed
Cowbird in Western Landscapes.—Michael L. Mor-
rison, Linnea S. Hall, Scott K. Robinson, Stephen I.
Rothstein, D. Caldwell Hahn, and Terrell D. Rich
(Eds). 1999. Studies in Avian Biology, Vol. 18. 312 pag-
es, 12 maps, 94 tables, 80 figures. ISBN 1-891276-06-
9. Cloth, $18.00.—This collection of 33 papers and 3
summaries by 89 authors is a subset of 67 presenta-
tions given at a symposium held at California State
University, Sacramento, California, 23–25 October
1997, and sponsored by the Partners in Flight Re-
search Group, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and
U.S. Geological Survey Biological Resources Divi-
sion. Much work on cowbird–host interactions has
been accomplished in central and eastern North
America. This symposium was organized to bring
together the results of current work and the per-
spectives on potential affects of cowbirds on hosts in
western landscapes. Although preceding it in pub-
lication of papers, it follows the lead of a symposium
held in Austin, Texas in 1993 (Smith et al. 2000). In
large part, this volume was quickly completed
through determination and reciprocal reviews by the
contributing authors and editors.
The collection of papers is divided into three sec-
tions. The first section deals with cowbird ecology
and factors affecting cowbird abundance and distri-
bution. The second addresses effects of brood para-
sitism on host reproductive performance and dis-
cusses the potential criteria for taking management
action. The third section focuses on some aspects of
cowbird control.
The authors of the summary chapters (Hall, Rob-
inson, Rothstein, and Smith) present what is depict-
ed as emerging perspectives and consensus, under-
scoring heterogeneity in cowbird distributions and
their potential effects on host populations. The sum-
mary chapters also include the perspective that, al-
though cowbirds may have significant influence on
the success of parasitized nests, their effect on most
host populations may be relatively minor. Under that
perspective, concerns for cowbird control may be
overrated and should be limited to some endangered
species or local populations. In addition, alternatives
to cowbird trapping and removal need more consid-
eration, particularly at the landscape level. Rich, in
the preface, also acknowledges the need for a better
understanding of proximate relationships between
cowbirds and cattle and spatial relationships be-
tween host parasitism patterns and landscape fea-
tures of the West.
In many ways, the volume represents the current
state of cowbird research and management. Some
papers depict clear advances in our understanding of
cowbird distributions and the relationships of cow-
birds to their hosts. Collectively, the volume incor-
porates a great amount of data on cowbird biology,
a testimony to the current level of activity. Its
weighting to western landscapes also presents an
emerging slant on cowbird–host biology that is
unique to this volume. However, although the vol-
ume contains some of the best current research and
some expansions of perspective, it also includes
some significant analytic and conceptual limitations.
The initial section may be the volumes greatest
strength. Those papers generally deal with issues af-
fecting cowbird distribution at landscape levels and
how habitat features may be related to high or low
rates of parasitism. Robinson develops a respectable
summary of that section, providing previous perspec-
tives, then presenting hypotheses and predictions
such that they can be evaluated with the results of the
contained papers. Tewksbury et al. may provide one
of the strongest analytical algorithms and its results
at the local landscape level. Young and Hutto give an
expansive evaluation of cowbird abundance at a
broader landscape level, whereas Staab and Morrison
identify specific habitat features that are related to
higher parasitism levels. Several papers examining
cowbird abundance and parasitism intensity show
limited effects on hosts in shrubsteppe habitats (Van
der Haegen and Walker, Farmer, and Ellison).
The second section, summarized by Smith, howev-
er, may be more problematic than enlightening. Smith
attempts to isolate consequences of parasitism on host
populations from consequences on host individuals or
host nests. He acknowledges the lack of reliable esti-
mates for ‘‘key demographic parameters needed to
model the impacts of parasitism reliably.’’ Few studies
deal with intrinsic growth rates. Under that handicap,
he develops an argument that, even when the cost to
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some host individuals is high, the cost of parasitism
to host populations or host communities is relatively
small; only isolated populations of a few select species
with limited distributions may be under significant
threat from parasitism. From his interpretations, he
develops some management guidelines for deciding
when to implement local cowbird-control programs.
Two basic problems are evident in that section and
in the cowbird literature at large. First, there are sev-
eral prevalent analytical misconceptions; many statis-
tics are accepted with little or no consideration as to
whether the results were products of biological pro-
cesses or artifacts of sampling design or analysis, or
both. For example, almost all estimates of parasitism
level are given as percents of observed samples, with
the failure to recognize lessons of Mayfield (1961,
1975) indicating that samples of passerine nests are
generally incomplete and nonrandom. The same prin-
ciples that would cause one to apply the Mayfield ap-
proach for evaluating nest predation also apply to
nests that are parasitized and abandoned. Because
nest sample data will be most deficient in nests that
fail early in their nesting cycles, a disproportionate
number of nests that were parasitized and abandoned
will be missed. The incomplete and nonrandom nest
sample issue incorporates itself significantly in sum-
mary analyses that use studies with biased statistics
(e.g. Lorenzana and Sealy, Whitfield and Sogge).
Several papers attempting to deal with seasonal fe-
cundity overlooked renestings, or assumed, implicitly
or explicitly, that females of their study species nested
only once during their breeding seasons (e.g. Greene;
Hahn et al.). Greenes general algorithm for assessing
intrinsic growth rates was perhaps most respectable
in the volume. However, his claim of limited renesting
for an ‘‘intensively monitored’’ group of Lazuli Bun-
tings (Passerina amoena) appeared to be generated
from a small and perhaps opportunistic sample of
nests (Table 3); that may have created the pessimistic
conclusions regarding the threat of cowbirds to bun-
ting populations. In contrast, the failure of Hahn et al.
to consider renestings of hosts in deriving an upper
bound of only 8.16 eggs laid per female cowbird in
acceptor host nests may have created the authors’ rel-
atively benign conclusion for cowbird effects on hosts.
The assumption of one to three renestings per host fe-
male would adjust estimates of Hahn et al. to 16–35
eggs per female cowbird. Their egg estimation gen-
erated speculation of much higher parental invest-
ment by cowbirds in their eggs, concepts empirically
unsupported in their manuscript. Overall, the analyt-
ical misconceptions in this section do not help clarify
the issue regarding effect of cowbirds on their hosts.
The second underlying weakness of this section, as
well as in other parts of the volume, are misconcep-
tions incorporated into design and interpretation of
analysis that are actually removed from population
models and population parameters. For example,
Robinson et al. develop an analysis design combin-
ing potential host species that eject cowbird eggs laid
in their nests with those that abandon a significant
proportion of parasitized nests. They reason that
both of those host groups cause a significant percent
loss in cowbird eggs laid, resulting in a detrimental
effect on cowbird populations. However, the param-
eter of interest in population models is young pro-
duced per female. Five successful eggs out of 10 pro-
duced per female (50% egg success) is as equally
successful a strategy as producing 5 young from 20
eggs (25% egg success). Attention to population
models would not have created that functionally
misleading analysis design proposed by the authors.
Their conclusion that habitats containing species that
abandon parasitized nests can serve as sinks for cow-
birds is numerically undemonstrated. They fail to
consider the compensatory strategy cowbirds have
of laying more eggs, and they also fail to explain how
cowbirds became abundant enough in those habitats
so that their numbers could subsequently decline.
In another example, DeGroot et al. failed to con-
sider dispersal in their analysis design contrasting
host communities between areas only 5–10 km apart
that were either trapped or untrapped for cowbirds.
Because untrapped sites are easily within expected
dispersal distances of both hosts and cowbirds in
trapped areas, treatments are not discrete and com-
parisons are not independent.
Although the second section struggles with prob-
lems mentioned above, it also assembles some useful
approaches to the study of cowbird and host popu-
lation dynamics. With relatively minor caveats, the
fundamental model structure of Citta and Mills, and
the basic algorithm of Greene, provide some high-
lights for taking a population perspective.
The third section contains a small collection of pa-
pers on efficacy of local cowbird-control programs.
Eckrich et al. (recognizing a less than pure statistical
design) provide an honest attempt to extract value
from the large data set amassed at Fort Hood, Texas.
Clotfelter et al. provide a credible site-scale perspec-
tive on the effects of burning on the use of Red-
winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) as hosts by
cowbirds.
The summary by Hall and Rothstein confronts the
efficacy of local cowbird removal in increasing host
populations. However, the authors operate under
some of the same constraints listed above by inter-
preting statistically weak treatments tangential to
the context of demographic and population models.
For example, they assume that estimates of parasit-
ism are accurate, and that parasitism was reduced to
very low levels in several Willow Flycatcher (Empi-
donax traillii) studies (neither are necessarily true;
see above). The low response in flycatcher numbers
caused the authors to conclude that factors other
than cowbird trapping were more important to fly-
catcher reproduction, rather than considering the
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274 [Auk, Vol. 118Reviews
possibility that the cowbird trapping was ineffec-
tively implemented.
Hall and Rothstein digress somewhat from local
cowbird-control removals to potential landscape al-
ternatives. Sorely overlooked in that treatment was a
critical appraisal of broad-scale control options. In
fact, data and analyses of several studies elsewhere
in this volume suggest potential cowbird effects on
host communities and the value of broad-scale con-
trol options when using population perspectives
(e.g. Citta and Mills, Greene, DeGroot et al., Peer and
Sealy), but were not considered by Hall and Roth-
stein. In addition, the authors also include a treat-
ment of a number of less science-based issues (e.g.
rights of cowbirds, excessive money spent on trap-
ping, profit motives of trappers) related to the de-
velopment of scientifically sound management prac-
tices without recognizing that these can often
complicate scientific evaluation.
Although this inexpensive volume contains some
very good papers, there are hidden costs of treading
a minefield of analytical and conceptual traps (thus
wasting time and conservation dollars). This volume
should be in all university libraries, and can be of use
to researchers and decision makers for cowbird man-
agement, but with the caveat that little should be tak-
en for granted. As researchers solidify analytical is-
sues and take on more structured population-based
perspectives, the understanding of cowbird–host
processes and appropriate management consider-
ations should improve substantially. This volume
will still likely expand the general perspectives on
this path.—J
OSEPH
A. G
RZYBOWSKI
, College of Mathe-
matics and Science, University of Central Oklahoma, Ed-
mond, Oklahoma 73034, USA.
L
ITERATURE
C
ITED
M
AYFIELD
, H. F. 1961. Nesting success calculated
from exposure. Wilson Bulletin 73:255–261.
M
AYFIELD
, H. F. 1975. Suggestions for calculating
nest success. Wilson Bulletin 87:456–466.
S
MITH
,J.N.M.,T.L.C
OOK
,S.I.R
OTHSTEIN
,S.K.
R
OBINSON
,
AND
S. G. S
EALY
(Eds.). 2000. The Bi-
ology and Management of Cowbirds and Their
Hosts. University of Texas Press, Austin.
The Auk 118(1):274–277, 2001
Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of
the World. 2nd edition.—Phil Chantler. 1998. Yale
University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. 272 pp.,
24 color plates, numerous maps & line drawings.
ISBN 0-300-07936-2. Cloth, $40.00.—The first edition
of this book appeared in 1995 among a host of sim-
ilarly designed volumes on individual bird families
published by Pica Press and others. Reviewers in the
formal ornithological literature have often wondered
for whom such texts were intended. The emphasis in
these books is, as explicitly stated in this one, ‘‘first
and foremost an identification guide,’’ yet one will
surely not take a suitcase full of these volumes on
any foreign field trip. The texts tended to be written
by European (mostly British) field observers and are
notably short on biological and ecological informa-
tion. These are not the compendia of an acknowl-
edged experts life work, such as Short (1982) on
woodpeckers or, more recently in the Oxford Press
series, the wonderful syntheses by Kemp (1995) on
hornbills, or Frith and Beehler (1998) on birds of
paradise.
Collins (1997) concluded his review of the first edi-
tion of Swifts by suggesting that the ‘‘limited audi-
ence’’ for this effort was only those of ‘‘the globe-
trotting birding community.’’ By that I suppose he
means someone like me. I like to have on my shelves
a summary of the global state of knowledge about a
group of birds, and particularly such a difficult
group as the swifts (the small swifts of New Guinea
and the Philippines certainly confused me in the
field). I often photocopy relevant portions to take on
trips; indeed, color photocopying is advanced and
inexpensive enough to make copying selected color
plates worthwhile. Thus I have been a sucker for
those books, but, with the exception of the Oxford
Press series, have been mostly disappointed. If the
books are not intended to summarize all that is
known about a set of birds, but, instead, emphasize
identification and distribution, authors should at
least (1) provide current, state-of-the art identifica-
tion material, (2) adequately consult the literature
and had a wide spectrum of field experts review
drafts, (3) provide decent plates, (4) have distribu-
tion maps that are up-to-date and reasonably precise
where a range is known, and avoid the suggestion of
accuracy of a range that is not well known, and (5)
be consistent and well-informed in the presentation
of their perspective on contentious issues related to
taxonomy, phylogeny, and English names. The ef-
forts by Chantler on those points have fallen short in
some, if not all, of those areas.
I bought the first edition of Swifts and took photo-
copied pages with me to Gabon and South Africa. My
initial impression was this one might be better than
most. The bibliography was lengthy and the acknowl-
edgments listed several important experts on certain
swifts in Africa and Southeast Asia. The Old World
material seemed reasonably good (indeed, this book
evolved from a paper on the identification of Western
Palearctic swifts that appeared in the journal Dutch
Birding) and the maps, consulted while I was in Af-
rica, seemed adequate. However, the New World ma-
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January 2001] 275Reviews
terial seemed a lot weaker (see comments below). I
was also not impressed with the plates and, although
they acknowledge that capturing the shape of flying
swifts is not easy, the paintings of the swifts in Cali-
fornia that I am most familiar with were not very
good. The reviews of the first edition generally sup-
ported those impressions. Old World field observers
heaped praise (e.g. Turner 1996, Anon 1996), but a
Neotropical field expert gave it a witheringly negative
review (Howell 1996). Reviewers in the more formal
ornithological literature were not much impressed
(e.g. Perrins 1996, Collins 1997) but did make many
specific suggestions for improvement. Because of this
apparent feedback, I had high hopes for the second
edition. Any second edition in this genre is uncom-
mon. That one appeared five years after the first edi-
tion, giving enough time for Chantler to have consid-
ered comments and corrections from readers and
reviewers and to have followed up with any experts
who were not initially consulted. This would have
greatly improved the product accordingly, particular-
ly strengthening the New World material.
This second edition differs from the first in several
significant ways. The artist Gerald Driessens is no
longer listed as the junior author. The jacket says
‘‘several plates have been revised by the artist’’ but I
found only one change: a new Plate 10 for African
spinetails. The art is better but it was not the plate in
most need of revision. The text has been renumbered
and lengthened by 26 pages, and there are about 75%
more bibliographic references. Yet those changes
have not significantly improved the book. Its more
up-to-date on some distribution details but, as stated
above, the serious weaknesses noted by reviewers in
the first edition have yet to be corrected. None of the
many specific errors pointed out by Collins (1997)
were fixed, except for a statement about the eggs of
Alexander Swift (Apus alexandri; more on that be-
low). Seemingly innumerable mistakes weakened the
impressive-looking bibliography. Collins noted the
misuse of ‘‘Anon.’’ in the bibliography when the au-
thor is actually known; those errors have been qua-
drupled in the new edition (none cited in the volume
are anonymous, unlike the unsigned short review be-
low cited as Anon 1995). The additional references in
the second edition do not actually reflect a more
thorough in-depth revision. Surely the only pub-
lished account of a swift in the Birds of North America
series would have been consulted, but Bull and Col-
lins (1993) was overlooked for the account of Vaux’s
Swift (Chaetura vauxi).
Chantler does cite several other papers published
by Evelyn Bull, but those are all erroneously listed in
the bibliography under ‘‘John Bull’’ (of New York
state fame). In addition, Howell (1996) questioned
whether the artist had ever ‘‘seen a live, free-flying
Neotropical swift.’’ I now wonder how many of the
bibliographic references were actually read by the
author. And, although the dust jacket claims the first
edition was ‘‘highly acclaimed,’’ it seems as if the au-
thor or publisher ignored the negative reviews.
In a book whose first line claims it ‘‘is first and
foremost an identification guide,’’ the identification
sections are the subject of special scrutiny. The big-
gest identification challenge in North America is
Vaux’s versus Chimney (C. pelagica) swifts. Chantler
says that Vaux’s Swift is ‘‘best distinguished from
Chimney Swift by its more highly contrasting rump
and uppertail-coverts, generally paler grey-brown
plumage, and best of all by the underpart pattern.’’
Whereas those plumage differences provide useful
secondary points, I consider size, shape, and vocal-
izations significantly more important. When the two
species occur together (as they occasionally do in
California and elsewhere), size and shape differenc-
es are apparent. Even when the species are not pre-
sent together, size comparisons with frequently ad-
jacent swallows can be helpful (e.g. Vaux’s Swift is
nearly as small as Violet-green Swallow [Tachycineta
thalassina], and the Chimney Swift is a tad larger
than the Barn Swallow [Hirundo rustica]).
Not only does this guide to swifts fail to mention
size and shape differences, but the two are painted
nearly the same size and shape in the plates. In ad-
dition, the line sketch of purported differences in
Vaux’s Swift when the tail is spread or not does not
match my field experience with the Vaux’s Swift over
the past few weeks. Further, vocal differences are an-
other key but Chantler’s comment that Vaux’s Swift
is ‘‘rather softer than Chimney’’ is of little help. Ref-
erence to Bull and Collins (1993) would have helped.
They describe the Vaux’s Swift ‘‘high-pitched, rapid
chipping and buzzy insect like twitter given in
flight’’ as compared to ‘‘Chimney Swift vocalization
lower-pitched with sharper chips predominating.’’
Kimball Garrett’s pithy characterization, that a
Vaux’s Swift ‘‘sounds like a Chimney Swift on ste-
roids,’’ captures the difference between the two spe-
cies well. But Chantler did not read Bull and Collins
or contact Garrett (whose name is misspelled
‘‘Garnst’’ in this book, an error pointed out in review
four years ago and left uncorrected).
The distribution maps for California swifts in the
first edition could have been improved in the second.
For example, although the scale was sufficient to map
the Vaux’s Swift breeding range in Santa Cruz and
Monterey counties south of San Francisco, it is not
shown for this area despite a series of relevant pub-
lications, including Roberson and Tenney (1993) and
Sterling and Paton (1996), that included maps.
Taxonomic and name decisions by Chantler were
also unsettling. Having some field experience with
Hydrochous gigas (Giant or Waterfall Swiftlet) in Java,
I was surprised that the first edition had merged that
genus with Collocalia swiftlets. Since the first edition,
more recent research has supported Hydrochous as a
monotypic genus (Lee et al. 1996, Holmgren 1998).
Despite discussing some evidence in the second edi-
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276 [Auk, Vol. 118Reviews
tion, Chantler has not revised his generic assign-
ment. That seems particularly ill advised because a
hefty portion of the introduction delves into differ-
entiating the genera of swifts. Likewise the English
name ‘‘Papuan Swift’’ is a particularly poor choice
for the enigmatic Collocalia papuensis, one of the rar-
est and least-known New Guinea species, and called
by all Papuan authorities (e.g. Somadikarta 1967,
Coates 1985, Beehler et al. 1986) the distinctive and
useful name ‘‘Three-toed Swiftlet.’’ Although Chan-
tler’s work could be influential, he showed poor
judgment in choosing Sibley and Monroes (1990)
misleading and ambiguous name over the long-es-
tablished moniker.
All this brings into question the quality of the au-
thor’s research and judgment in the development of
this book. To further illustrate, consider the question
of the color of the eggs of Apus alexandri, a species en-
demic to the Cape Verde Islands. Although seemingly
an obscure issue, egg color has been considered of tax-
onomic importance (e.g. Brooke 1971). Citing Banner-
man and Bannerman (1966 [sic 5 1968]), the first edi-
tion of Swifts said ‘‘This species is unique in the
Apodidae in having nely red-brown freckled (most
densely clustered at broadest end), not pure white
eggs.’’ What Bannerman and Bannerman actually
said, referring to a set collected by Alexander (1898),
was ‘‘These [eggs] were white, minutely freckled with
reddish-brown, forming a faint zone round the larger
end.’’ (I read that as tiny freckles around the large end
only, not throughout, but I digress.) In the second edi-
tion of Swifts, this text is replaced by the following,
‘‘eggs plain white (not ‘red-brown freckled)’’ citing
Hazevoet (1995). What Hazevoet actually said was
(internal citations omitted):
‘‘Brooke found that alexandri has no close relatives
and, for that reason, gave it specific rank. His judg-
ment appears to be at least partly based on the sup-
position that alexandri is the only swift that does not
lay plain white eggs, those described by Alexander
being freckled with reddish brown. The eggs col-
lected by Naurois, however, were pure white and
those collected by Alexander were presumably
misidentified.’’
This is detailed stuff but perhaps not unimportant.
Hazevoet (1995) is an unabashed proponent of the
phylogenetic species concept and, under that con-
cept, egg color is not relevant when discussing spe-
cies-level taxonomy. Yet, discounting Alexander’s
eggs as ‘‘presumably misidentified’’ is surely just
speculative at this point. Nothing in Alexander’s
(1898) or Bannerman and Bannermans (1968) de-
tailed discussion suggests that the nest found by Al-
exander with its two eggs were other than the swift’s.
If these eggs were misidentified, what were they?
Are they extant? If so, wouldn’t it be worthwhile to
check them out, especially if one was writing a major
new monograph on swifts? (The implication in Haz-
evoet is that Alexander deposited the material in the
British Museum and, therefore, could be examined.)
Whatever the answers, the issue is not as simple as
changing the egg description details from ‘‘red-
brown freckled’’ (first edition) to ‘‘plain white, not
‘red-brown freckled’’ (second edition). In ornithol-
ogy, as in politics, the devil is in the details, and I am
not convinced the details were appropriately re-
searched for this volume.
Thus, despite my initial high hopes, I cannot rec-
ommend this new edition. If one already owns the
first edition, the revisions in this new work do not
justify paying the price again. Those areas in most
need of reworking have not been changed and some
new material appears hastily compiled and ill-ad-
vised. If you don’t own the book, I recommend Chan-
tler’s (1999) text in Volume 5 of the Handbook of the
Birds of the World series. You’ll get much of the same
material plus better plates (by Ian Lewington) and
spectacular color photos (not to mention the sum-
maries on owls, nightjars, and hummingbirds). If a
small volume summarizing information about Old
World swifts is of use to you, Chantler’s Swift book
will fill that niche. However, you should probably
look elsewhere for information about New World
swifts.—D
ON
R
OBERSON
, 282 Grove Acre, Pacic Grove,
California 93950, USA.
L
ITERATURE
C
ITED
A
LEXANDER
, B. 1898. Further notes on the ornithol-
ogy of the Cape Verde Islands. Ibis 4:277–285.
A
NON
. 1995. [review of] Swifts: A guide to the swifts
and treeswifts of the world, 1st ed. Bulletin of
the British Ornithologists’ Club 115:264.
B
ANNERMAN
,D.A.,
AND
W. M . B
ANNERMAN
. 1968.
History of the birds of the Cape Verde Islands.
Birds of the Atlantic Islands: vol. IV. Oliver and
Boyd, Ltd., Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
B
EEHLER
,B.M.,T.K.P
RATT
,
AND
D. A. Z
IMMERMAN
.
1986. Birds of New Guinea. Princeton University
Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
B
ROOKE
, R. K. 1971. Taxonomic notes on some lesser
known Apus swifts. Bulletin of the British Or-
nithologists’ Club 91:33–36.
B
ULL
,E.L.,
AND
C. T. C
OLLINS
. 1993. Vaux’s Swift
(Chaetura vauxi). In The Birds of North America,
no. 77 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Academy Nat-
ural Sciences, Philadelphia, and American Or-
nithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.
C
HANTLER
, P. 1999. Family Apodidae (Swifts). Pages
388–457 in Handbook of the Birds of the World,
vol. 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds (J. de Hoyo,
A. Eliott, and J. Sargatal, Eds.). Lynx Edicions,
Barcelona, Spain.
C
OATES
, B. J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea.
Part I. Dove Publishing Ltd., Alderley, Australia.
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C
OLLINS
, C. T. 1997. [review of] Swifts: A guide to the
swifts and treeswifts of the world, 1st ed. Auk
114:152–154.
F
RITH
,C.B.,
AND
B. M. B
EEHLER
. 1998. The Birds of
Paradise. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
H
AZEVOET
, C. J. 1995. The Birds of the Cape Verde
Islands. British Ornithologists Union Check-
list, no. 13. British Ornithologists’ Union, Tring,
Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
H
OLMGREN
, J. 1998. A parsimonious phylogenetic
tree for the swifts, Apodi, compared with DNA-
analysis phylogenies. Bulletin of the British Or-
nithologists’ Club 118:238–249.
H
OWELL
, S. N. G. 1996. [review of] Swifts: A guide to
the swifts and treeswifts of the world, 1st ed.
Cotinga 6:42–43.
K
EMP
, A. 1995. The Hornbills: Bucerotiformes. Ox-
ford University Press, Oxford.
L
EE
,P.L.M.,D.H.C
LAYTON
,R.G
RIFFITHS
,
AND
R.
D. M. P
AGE
. 1996. Does behavior reflect phylog-
eny in swiftlets (Aves: Apodidae)? A test using
cytochrome b mitrochondrial DNA sequences.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc-
es USA 93:7091–7096.
P
ERRINS
, C. M. 1996. [review of] Swifts: A guide to
the swifts and treeswifts of the world, 1st ed.
Ibis 138:799–800.
R
OBERSON
,D.,
AND
C. T
ENNEY
, Eds. 1993. Atlas of the
Breeding Birds of Monterey County, California.
Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, Carmel,
California.
S
HORT
, L. L. 1982. Woodpeckers of the World. Dela-
ware Museum of Natural History Monographs,
Series 4, Greenville, Delaware.
S
IBLEY
,C.G.,
AND
B. L. M
ONROE
,J
R
. 1990. Distri-
bution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale
University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
S
OMADIKARTA
, S. 1967. A recharacterization of Col-
localia papuensis Rand, the Three-toed Swiftlet.
Proceedings of the United States National Mu-
seum 124:1–8.
S
TERLING
,J.,
AND
P. W. C . P
ATON
. 1996. Breeding dis-
tribution of Vaux’s Swift in California. Western
Birds 27:30–40.
T
URNER
, D. 1996. [review of] Swifts: A guide to the
swifts and treeswifts of the world, 1st ed. Bul-
letin of the African Bird Club 3:54–55.
The Auk 118(1):277–278, 2001
Atlas of Breeding Birds of Tennessee.—Charles P.
Nicholson. 1997. University of Tennessee Press,
Knoxville, Tennessee. xiii 1 426 pp., 176 black-and-
white drawings, 23 tables and figures, 281 distribu-
tion and abundance maps, 19 other maps. ISBN 0-
87049-987-4. Cloth, $45.00.—The Atlas of Breeding
Birds of Tennessee provides the first detailed account
of the abundance and distribution of the 170 con-
firmed breeding bird species in the state. It is the
product of research conducted by the Tennessee Or-
nithological Society between 1986 and 1991. The first
chapter, ‘‘The Atlas Project,’’ describes how creation
of the breeding bird atlas was conducted. That chap-
ter includes a description of the survey blocks, atlas
breeding codes, and a sample of a field card used to
collect the data. The author describes the need for
‘‘miniroutes’’ (abbreviated Breeding Bird Survey
routes) to measure abundance. He also describes
how the data analysis and mapping were carried out.
The first chapter also has maps of Tennessee that
provide details of the counties, major cities, as well
as state and federal land holdings.
The second chapter, ‘‘Landscape and Ornithology
of Tennessee,’’ comprises five sections. The first sec-
tion, ‘‘The History of Tennessee Ornithology,’’ pro-
vides an outline of people who have studied or ob-
served Tennessee birds, from Louis Joliets notes
about seeing and collecting Carolina Parakeets (Con-
uropsis carolinensis) along the Mississippi River, to
the present day. The list of many people that have
contributed to Tennessee ornithology includes Al-
exander Wilson, John James Audubon, Edward
Drinker Cope, and William Brewster.
The second chapter section, ‘‘The Environment of
Tennessee,’’ describes and delineates the 10 physio-
graphic regions of Tennessee, ranging from the Blue
Ridge Province in the eastern part of the state, to the
Mississippi Alluvial Plain in the west. That section
also describes the states past and present climate as
well as possible climate changes that may occur in
the future. The section finishes with a description of
vegetation characteristic of each physiographic re-
gion and includes vegetation maps. The next section,
‘‘The Landscape of Tennessee,’’ describes the chang-
es that have taken place in the states landscape over
the years. Humans arrived in Tennessee about 10,000
years ago when the state was predominantly covered
by spruce-fir forest. Mixed hardwood forests ap-
peared after the glacial retreat and are the predom-
inant native habitat in Tennessee today. Graphs il-
lustrate the degree of forest clearing that has taken
place as well as the amount of land now devoted to
agriculture. In many areas, mining and the loss of
wetlands have also influenced the landscape of Ten-
nessee. The author also provides a nice overview of
the states past and present physiognomy.
‘‘Historic Changes in the Tennessee Avifauna’’ fol-
lows the landscape section in Chapter 2. As this title
suggests, this section provides an account of the
changes in abundance and distribution of Tennessee
birds. Using historical accounts and surveys dating
back to the late 1880s and comparing them to mod-
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278 [Auk, Vol. 118Reviews
ern surveys, we learn that 26 species have expanded
their range, whereas 10 species have either experi-
enced a decrease in their breeding range or have be-
caome extinct in Tennessee. Using Breeding Bird
Survey data, the atlas shows that 16 species have an
increasing population trend, whereas 39 species are
showing population declines. That section finishes
with a description of conservation efforts in the state
that include Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), Os-
prey (Pandion haliaetus), and Bald Eagle (Haleaeetus
leucocephalus) restoration, and Partners in Flight ef-
forts on behalf of songbirds.
The last section of this chapter, ‘‘An Overview and
Analysis of Atlas Results,’’ contains the maps of atlas
block and miniroute locations. It also includes the
numbers and proportions of ‘‘possible,’’ ‘‘probable,’’
and ‘‘confirmed’’ breeding species, a list of the 20
most frequently reported species, and the proportion
of Neotropical migrant species that have been de-
tected in the state. Cluster analysis and detrended
correspondence analysis are also provided to ex-
amine bird community groupings.
The third chapter, ‘‘Species Accounts,’’ makes up
most of the book. Species are listed in taxonomic or-
der. Each account consists of a text summary of that
species abundance, distribution, and breeding biol-
ogy. The descriptions are concise but informative.
Accounts include maps showing where the species
has been found and where the species has been
granted as possible, probable, or confirmed status.
Abundance of species found during miniroute sur-
veys are displayed using contour maps. All of the
maps are well done and are easy to understand, giv-
ing the reader a good idea of where and in what con-
centrations the species may be found. Most species
accounts are accompanied by attractive line draw-
ings contributed by Elizabeth Chastain, Chris Mey-
ers, or David Vogt, who all contributed their talents
to the book.
Following the main species accounts, the final
chapter, ‘‘Miscellaneous Species,’’ covers the 19 spe-
cies that are unconfirmed, extirpated or extinct, in-
troduced, or hybrid breeders in the state. Each ac-
count consists of a brief description of where a
particular species bred according to historical re-
cords. The only two such species that were detected
during the period covered by the atlas are Hermit
Thrush (Catharus guttatus) and Magnolia Warbler
(Dendroica magnolia), and distribution maps like
those provided in the ‘‘Species Accounts’’ chapter in-
dicate where they were found. As with the previous
chapter, the miscellaneous species accounts are brief
but informative.
Three appendices follow the last chapter. The first
is a list of the common and scientific names of all
plant and animal species mentioned throughout the
book. The second appendix is a summary of breed-
ing chronologies for each species. The table lists the
ranges of dates on which eggs, nestlings, and fledg-
lings have been found; this should be very useful for
anyone studying reproductive biology of Tennessee
birds. The last appendix is a list of known Brown-
headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) hosts that occur in
the state. Again, this table provides a quick reference
for someone interested in brood parasitism in Ten-
nessee birds.
The book concludes with an extensive (25 pages)
Literature Cited section. The bibliography appears
to be exhaustive and is a valuable resource for find-
ing references on a particular species or some aspect
of Tennessee natural history. In summary, this thor-
ough, informative and well-illustrated atlas is in-
valuable for anyone interested in studying, finding,
or learning about breeding birds in Tennessee. Al-
though designed primarily for the professional or-
nithologist, the atlas would be easily comprehended
by the layperson. It definitely belongs in personal as
well as university and public libraries.—D
AVID
A.
A
BORN
, Department of Biological and Environmental
Sciences, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chat-
tanooga, Tennessee 37403-2598, USA.
The Auk 118(1):278–279, 2001
Alien Species in North America and Hawaii: Im-
pacts on Natural Ecosystems.—George W. Cox.
1999. Island Press, Washington, D.C. xii 1 387 pp.
ISBN 1-55963-679-3. Cloth, $60.00, ISBN 1-55963-
680-7. Paper, $30.00.—This book focuses on one of
the greatest threats to biodiversity in North America,
the spread of alien (or exotic) species into ecosystems
across the continent. The United States is the most
‘‘invaded’’ country in the world for a variety of rea-
sons discussed herein (despite the title, this book fo-
cuses on the United States with minimal treatment
of Canada and Mexico). Cox makes the point that, for
the general public, this huge threat to North Amer-
ican (5United States) biodiversity is generally un-
known. Based on my own experience, I certainly
agree. Particularly obnoxious exotic species clearly
do become known to the public in the geographic
area invaded (in my part of the country one thinks
of zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, or the Asian
honeysuckles, Lonicera spp.), but Cox’s exhaustive
treatment makes it quite clear that the problem goes
far beyond the better-known villains. The general
public (including most of our undergraduate stu-
dents) has little or no idea how severe the invasion is
or its ecological implications.
The book is laid out in five parts. The first part (In-
troduction) comprises three chapters that indicate
the extent and historical perspective of the problem.
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January 2001] 279Reviews
Half of the book is included in the second part (Re-
gional Perspectives) wherein 10 regions of the con-
tinent (5United States) are treated. In terms of de-
scriptive data, this is the meat of the book, and I
found myself continually surprised by the great
number of exotic species that have invaded each re-
gion. The third part of Cox’s book (Biotic Perspec-
tives) includes three chapters that discuss exotic spe-
cies and the role that humans played in their
introduction. That includes the deliberate introduc-
tion of game species and the spread of North Amer-
ican native species into new parts of the country, as
well as the planned and unplanned release of human
associates (e.g. cats, rats, mice, pigs, and goats).
The three chapters in the fourth part (Theoretical
Perspectives) investigate ecological and evolutionary
patterns, including such questions as: ‘‘What makes
an invading species successful?’’ ‘‘What makes a
community vulnerable to invasion?’’ ‘‘Might invad-
ed communities reach alternative stable states?’’ and
‘‘What might be the evolutionary changes in both ex-
otic and native species in invaded communities?’’
My guess is that, for many readers, that section is po-
tentially the most interesting—it proved to be so for
me. However, at the same time, I was somewhat frus-
trated to learn how little we know about those pat-
terns and the fact that, at least at present, there sim-
ply are no clear answers to many of the questions
raised.
The last part (Policy Perspectives) includes two
chapters that ask the question, ‘‘What is to be done?’’
Even the most conservative estimates conclude that
dealing with the impact of exotic species costs the
United States several billion dollars a year (perhaps
over $100 billion per year!). Although the arsenal of
proposed ‘‘weapons’’ is broad, appropriate use of
these will require ecological wisdom not always
shown in the past.
Are the interests of The Auk readers affected by
exotic species? Those of us who are field ecologists
are working with bird study species whose ecology
is very likely influenced in some way by invading
plants, animals, and microbes, including pathogens.
The impact of exotic species on the systems we study
may be subtle or dramatic but, in any case, it would
be unwise simply to assume that we don’t need to
take into consideration the presence of alien species
in our field research. For example, if one nds re-
duced nesting success, is it due to competition with
an exotic species for a nest site? Or, is it due to par-
asitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater)?
Similarly, are high nest-predation rates the result of
an introduced predator? Is reproductive success low
because the feeding rate to nestlings is low, perhaps
as a result of competition for food with an exotic spe-
cies? Maybe an introduced pathogen is reducing
food availability or directly affecting nestling health.
And on and on.
The intriguing result of reading Cox’s book is that
one begins to think about such questions. Cox pro-
vides so many interesting case histories about such
a variety of habitats that it is inevitable that the read-
er interested in avian ecology will ponder such ques-
tions. Having said that, there is relatively little in the
book that directly addresses birds, an exception be-
ing the treatment of avian introductions into Hawaii
(with respect to bird introductions, the most invaded
island archipelago in the world). The few bird ex-
amples given by Cox include the possible negative
influence of introduced predatory crabs on native in-
vertebrates and, thus, on Pacific coast shorebird pop-
ulations (p. 55), the long-term impact of Dutch elm
disease on Eastern U.S. forest-birds communities (p.
100), the disturbance of avian breeding habitats in
southern Florida by the spread of the shrub known
as Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) (p. 115),
the consequences for native bird species as a result
of exotic plants in grassland and riparian habitats
(pp. 136, 148, 155), and the sad history of introduced
game bird species throughout the U.S. (p. 200).
Should an avian ecologist buy this book? Let me
answer by saying that an avian ecologist should read
this book and request that your university library
purchase a copy. Cox’s treatments of species inva-
sions in the habitats of North America are so infor-
mative that I think any field biologist working in one
of these habitats would likely benefit from reading
that habitat’s treatment. Even if birds are discussed
peripherally in some of those cases, the habitat sum-
maries lead one to question in what ways ones study
species might be influenced by exotic invaders. Cer-
tainly, for anyone who teaches a conservation biolo-
gy course as I do, this book is essential reading. Even
if one simply prepares a lecture or two on introduced
species for another course, Cox’s book clearly pre-
sents a wide variety of case histories to enliven a lec-
ture. Without doubt, as I update my lectures on alien
species, I will do so with Cox’s book at my side.—
R
ANDALL
B
REITWISCH
, Department of Biology, Univer-
sity of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469-2320, USA.
The Auk 118(1):279–280, 2001
Physiological Diversity and Its Ecological Impli-
cations.—John I. Spicer and Kevin J. Gaston. 1999.
Blackwell Science Limited, Oxford, United Kingdom.
x 1 241 pp. 99 text figures. ISBN 0-632-05452-2. Pa-
per, $59.95.—Ecological physiology occupies the in-
terface of two major disciplines within biology and,
therefore, can offer integrative views of organisms
that combine the insights and context of ecology
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280 [Auk, Vol. 118Reviews
with the analytical rigor of the best traditions of
mechanistic physiology. Within the last decade, how-
ever, the status and preferred directions for research
within ecophysiology have been the subject of sub-
stantial debate. Some, for example, argue that this
discipline has essentially answered all of its initial,
large-scale questions of how animals function in
their natural environments and how they are adapt-
ed to them evolutionarily (e.g. Bennett 1987). Others
have questioned this disciplinary hubris and have
been impressed that we may well know much less
than is commonly perceived. A single example, with
apologies to my ornithological colleagues, is the
physiological ecology of small mammals occupying
hot deserts. Here, it is clear that many of the most
familiar generalizations accepted in textbooks and
taught to generations of students are misleading
(Walsberg 2000).
Although many have called for new perspectives
on ecological physiology, few have provided them in
the exemplary fashion of Spicer and Gastons Physi-
ological Diversity and its Ecological Implications. This
book provides a broad overview of variation in a host
of ecologically relevant aspects of physiology (e.g.
energy relations, temperature tolerance and regula-
tion, water relations, ionic relations). Spicer and Gas-
tons essential thesis is that such variation has been
largely ignored for too long and that understanding
the nature, origins, and consequences of diversity in
physiological systems is critical to understanding
ecological physiology. Our lack of attention to phys-
iological diversity has had major consequences. A
salient example is the difficulty that such ignorance
imposes upon understanding the evolution of phys-
iological traits. Between two populations occupying
contrasting habitats, for example, differences in
physiological performance may be derived from ge-
netic differences, or from acclimation, or from on-
togenetic effects induced by growth and develop-
ment in differing environments. If acclimation and
ontogenetic effects are of major importance, then dif-
ferences in physiological performance may well be
buffered from effects of natural selection. Under-
standing the relative contributions of these alterna-
tive sources of variation is clearly vital to under-
standing the role of natural selection as well as the
innate physiological lability of individuals.
Spicer and Gaston explore physiological diversity
from several points of view. The book is organized
following hierarchical levels of biological organiza-
tion. That is, they first consider variation with time
in an individual (including acclimation and ontoge-
ny), then progressively explore variation between in-
dividuals, between populations, and between spe-
cies. Within each hierarchy, they examine the
patterns and structure of physiological diversity, its
mechanistic bases, and notable weaknesses in our
understanding.
I was particularly struck by three overall features
of this book. First, it is broad in its taxonomic cov-
erage. The examples discussed, which are myriad,
cover a wide set of invertebrate and vertebrate ani-
mals. Second, the authors have provided useful and
nondogmatic discussions of a variety of sometimes
contentious issues such as the ‘‘beneficial acclima-
tion hypothesis’’ and the importance of accounting
for phylogenetic relatedness in physiological studies
(‘‘phylogenetically correct physiology’’). Finally,
throughout this book, Spicer and Gaston have taken
care to explicitly identify important and inadequate-
ly understood questions in some detail. The book
ends with a two-page list of critical questions that
need to be addressed related to ecophysiological
diversity.
The mechanics of the book also meet high profes-
sional standards. It is very well written, well illus-
trated, and replete with references and examples
from both the older as well as recent (up to 1998)
literature.
In summary, Physiological Diversity and its Ecologi-
cal Implications effectively develops a valuable new
perspective within ecological physiology. This book
deserves to be read by all in the discipline, including
graduate students as well as established research-
ers.—G
LENN
E. W
ALSBERG
, Department of Biology, Ar-
izona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85827-1501,
USA.
L
ITERATURE
C
ITED
B
ENNETT
, A. F. 1987. The accomplishments of ecolog-
ical physiology. Pages 1–8 in New Directions in
Ecological Physiology (M. E. Feder, A. F. Ben-
nett, W. W. Burggren, and R. B. Huey, Eds.).
Cambridge University Press, New York.
W
ALSBERG
, G. E. 2000. Small mammals in hot de-
serts: Some generalizations revisited. BioScience
50:109–122.
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