CATALOGUE 



BIRDS. 



Order IV. PICARIiE. 



At the time of the publication of the third volume of this work, it 

 was intended to follow as closelj' as possible the systematic arrange- 

 ment proposed by Garrod in the ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological 

 Society, 1874. However, owing to the subsequent researches by 

 that and other anatomists, various modifications were proposed, and 

 especially Mr. Sclatcr, in a paper " On the present State of the 

 Systema Avium " (' Ibis,' 1880), indicated what were clearly im- 

 provements on Garrod's classification. 



In that paper Garrod's " Passeriformes " were abandoned, and the 

 " suborder Passeres," as characterized in Volume III. p. 1, is raised 

 to an order. "We not only adopt here this view, but follow Mr. Sclater 

 further in reviving the term " Picarice " for the next order, which 

 would comprise the Cypseli {Macrochires), Anisodacfyli, Hetero- 

 dacii/Ii, Scansores, and Coccyges, although we are not aware that the 

 order with these wide limits has been or can be diagnosed. 



To Mr. Seebohm, who has endeavoured to work out a complete 

 scheme in which the various groups are circumscribed by diagnostic 

 characters (' Classification of Birds,' 1890), we are much indebted 

 for the assistance we obtained from his work in defining the divisions 

 in the following scheme. The adoption of an " order of Picarians " 

 is, at the best, a provisional measure, and if this " order" be thought 

 to be inadmissible, then the dinsions proposed by Mr. Seebohm 

 would have to rank as separate orders, and might be arranged in a 

 sequence more in conformity with what are, at present, considered 

 their natural affinities. 



