Vlll INTRODUCTION. 



It is well known to Ornithologists that the Classification of 

 Parrots has been a very difficult problem ; and I am sorry to say 

 that I cannot offer results which will settle the question. Those 

 at which Mr. Garrod * arrived are far from being satisfactory. 



The classification I have followed in this volume agrees to a certain 

 extent with that of Sundevallf , who divided the Parrots into Psittaci 

 proprii and Psittaci orthognathi. As to the families, I have found 

 that those admitted by Dr. Eeichenow in his excellent ' Conspectus 

 Psittacorum ' i are the most natural and can be defined without 

 much difficulty : in a few points I had to differ from him : I have 

 withdrawn the genus Nestor from the Cacatuido>, and made it the 

 type of a distinct family, as has been already proposed by others ; 

 from the Cacatuidcr I have separated also the genus Dasyptilus 

 and united it with the Psittacince (restricted), although I am not 

 quite sure about this being the right place. Moreover, the genera 

 Polytelis, Ptistes, Aprosmictus, and Pyrrhuhpsis, having a well- 

 formed furcnla, have been separated by me from the Platycercince 

 and arranged with the Palceornithinos, and the genera Pezoporus and 

 Oeopsittacus have been again united with the Platycercince, leaving 

 the genus Stringops only in the Stringopidce. A peculiar feature in 

 my classification is the establishment of the family Cyclopsittacidce, 

 which is not equivalent with Dr. Reichcnow's Micropsittacince. The 

 under surface of the hook of the bill without file-liko sculpture in 

 the species of the genera Neopsittacus and Cydopsittacus separates 

 them from all the other Psittaci proprii and approaches them to the 

 Psittaci orthofjnathi ; when the structure of their tongue is known, 

 we shall be able to understand better their true affinities. 



Although I think that the families and subfamilies admitted 

 by me are fairly definable, I must confess that my arrangement 

 does not bring us nearer to an understanding of the mutual or 

 phylogenetic relations of the different families. A complete study 

 of the internal structure of the Parrots will, perhaps, throw the 

 requisite light on the subjeet. 



* "On some Points in the Anatomy of the Parrots which bear on the 

 Classification of the Suborder" (P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 586-598). 



t ' Methodi naturalis Avium disponendarum tentamen,' 1872, pp. 68-72. 

 } Journal fur Ornithologie, 1881. 



