viii PREFACE. 



scientific, and euphonious nomenclature is very much 

 to be desired. As an index of our present status with 

 respect to our knowledge of the muscles of birds, it is 

 hoped that the volume here offered will faithfully repre- 

 sent it, but its writer trusts that in future works he 

 may lend his assistance to the improvement of all the 

 lines above indicated. To this end, he will be thankful 

 for any suggestions that may be useful should the 

 present volume go to another edition, and good criticism 

 of the same will be welcomed from any quarter. 

 Already, the question of ncuro-myology, or the nomen- 

 clature of muscles based upon their nerve-supply, has 

 made considerable progress in modifying our views in 

 that direction, and although I am convinced that it 

 by no means always furnishes an invariable guide to 

 follow, still its great usefulness is not to be ignored. 

 With no little interest I have read the " Neuro-myology " 

 of Coues and Shute (New York Medical Record, July, 

 1887), and am compelled to admire the masterly manner 

 in which they have instilled new life into an old theme. 

 Unfortunately, the same muscle as represented in 

 different types of the vertebrate series, is not always 

 served by the same nerve, and this would stand in the 

 way of a general grouping and a universal neuro- 

 myological nomenclature upon any such a basis. To 

 those of my readers who are familiar with German, the 

 best works I can recommend to be consulted in the 

 present connection are the very excellent treatises of 

 Selenka and Gadow in Bronn's Klassen des Tlder-Reichs; 

 and that superb monument to avian morphology, the 

 Untersucliunyen zur Morphologic und Systematik der 



