Indeed! In fact the entire basis for the Onion article is not even
true -- Sibley DOES place juncos in the Emberizidae, not in
Fringillidae or Passeridae. And the article is pretty lame in general.

Personally, though, I don't care much for Sibley's book. It does have
some creative features (I DO like the family "thumbnail" pages at the
start of the families), but it is NOT my favorite, due mostly to the
large dimensions and the quality of some of the plates. The color
cast of at least the first printing doesn't look right in many cases
to my eyes. Examples of plates I find particularly poor in this
regard are the Rufous & Allen's Hummingbirds on p. 301 and the Eared
Trogon (Quetzal) on p. 303. Also, some of the in-flight illustrations
don't seem helpful to me and look rather odd.

I am more impressed by the illustrations in the new (5th Edition) of
the National Geographic guide, which I think are far better in terms
of color fidelity. The little cut-out tabs to major divisions in the
text are also pretty cool/helpful, and the book can still be jammed
into my back pocket! Of course, field guides are a matter of personal
preference, and most of us probably buy ALL of them anyway, being the
fanatics that we are!!

Mark


>It's been highly entertaining to read all the fuss generated by an
>article/any article in "the Onion." When reading this newspaper, one
>must firmly plant one's tongue in one's cheek. And prepare to laugh,
>because "the Onion" can be, and usually is, just plain silly.
>Think "spoof," no matter the subject.
>
>Joe Meche
>Bellingham
>
>
>
>
>See what's free at <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503>AOL.com.


--
Mark Egger
Seattle, WA
USA
mailto:m.egger at comcast.net