68 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds, 



MergidcB, would direct me to station it the last in this group, 

 as Mr Yarrell has done, I have arranged it jirst, since its 

 size, form, and appearance, clearly indicate its place to be 

 next to the Wigeon (Mareca.) 



Tribe II. Serrirostres. I considered it more correct to 

 institute this tribe of saw-billed Natatores, for the Mergidse, 

 Carbonidse, &c., because the mandibles of their bills are armed 

 with sharp teeth like those of a saw, indeed, very diflerent 

 from the LamellcB of the former tribe, than to continue them, 

 as in the Cuvierian classification, among the Lamellirostres. 

 Still I ought to remark, that some authors designate the man- 

 dibles of the Trogons and Pteroglossi as serrated, but these 

 are more strictly cut in, or jagged, along their exterior mar- 

 gins ; and they would, therefore, be better defined by the 

 term Incisirosfres. Further, relying on two or three dis- 

 tinctions, I have deemed it expedient to raise the genera 

 Mergus and Merganser to the dignity of a family, of which 

 the former is its type. 



Subtribe 3. Totipalmw, the entire webs of Baron Cuvier. 

 Here we ftnd the hind-toe, or thumb, brought forward, or 

 rather to the inner side of the foot, and connected with the 

 three fore-toes by a strong and total web. 



Family 2. Fregatida.. I have retained Bay's generic title 

 of Fregata for the man-of-war bird, and have placed it in a 

 family separated from the Carbonidw ; because the feet of that 

 singular bird, although having the hind-toe brought to the 

 side, and united with a single palmature, differ much, in the 

 toes being only webbed for about one-third of their length, 

 and not, as in the two following families, as far as the claws. 

 These last, resembling the talons of the Raptores, are sharp 

 and strongly curved. The Fregata is an American species ; 

 and its appearance in Europe has been accidental. The 

 Prince of Canino says, it was only once seen at the mouth of 

 the Weser in January 1772. 



Family 3. Carbonidce, or the Cormorants, have been neces- 

 sarily divided by myself from the Pelecanidoe of authors for 

 several important reasons ; among which is the absence of all 

 serrated denticulations on the edges of the mandibles of the 

 latter. So likewise, the remarkable form of the entire bill, 



