on Dr. Jerdoii's 'Birds of India.' 229 



undoubtedly that of forest-clad hill and broken country, on the 

 one hand, and the great plains which are almost bare of natural 

 jungle and extensively under cultivation, on the other. It would 

 occupy more space than could be conveniently spared to venture 

 upon details of physical geography, which cannot be briefly 

 disposed of with advantage to the reader ; so, having called atten- 

 tion to Dr. Jerdon's remarks in his Introduction, which apply 

 more particularly to India southward of the Himalaya, I do so 

 likewise to a valuable paper by Mr. Hodgson, ' On the Geogra- 

 phical Distribution of the iNIammalia and Birds of the Himalaya,' 

 which is published in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society' 

 for 1855. 



In the matter of classification Dr. Jerdon holds to the anti- 

 quated notion of associating the Parrots with the other zygo- 

 dactyle birds, the Swifts with the Swallows, the Eurijlaimi with 

 the Rollers, the Trochilida with the tenuirostral Passeres (as 

 likewise Upupa and Pronierops) , and — a degree less in violation 

 of true affinity — the Henicuri with the Mutacilla ; while he ap- 

 proximates Menura to the Me(japodiid(2 (ii. p. 470) ! thus failing, 

 in my opinion, to appreciate the import of the anatomical and 

 more important distinctions. However, as regards the Swifts 

 and Swallows, he quotes (i. p. 155) Van der Hoeven, who remarks, 

 " I trust it is not to ]be ascribed solely to custom and to preju- 

 dice in favor of a division generally adopted, if I cannot divest 

 myself of this opinion, viz., that Swallows and Swifts should be 

 classed together;" also Kaup, who declares that, "To separate 

 the Ci/pselidce from the Hirundinidce cannot enter the mind of 

 any one whom scholarship has not deprived of all sense of na- 

 tural order;'' again, "From all these arrangements it would 

 appear that men, otherwise most capable, if pre-occupied in 

 favour of some particular characteristic type, will, in accordance 

 with these and in defiance of nature itself, tear asunder the 

 most natural connections, merely to unite forms like the Cypse- 

 Lid(B and Trochilida, which in all other respects are dissimilar." 

 In what respect, it may be asked, beyond adaptive modifications 

 of the same special type for different purposes ? even as the 

 Swallows and the Ti-eecreepers, the Honeysuckers and the 

 Finches, are analogously different modifications of the same 



