INTRODUCTION 77 



accompanying letterpress is too brief to be satisfactory. A somewhat 

 similar work, Ahlildungen von Vogel-SJceletten, was begun in 1879 by Dr. 

 A. B. Meyer, and is stiU in progress, 210 plates of Birds' skeletons having 

 already appeared. Some of these are excellent, but photography, by 

 means of which they are all represented, is an unintelligent art, and as 

 the sun shines alike on the evil and the good, so minor characters are as 

 faithfully portrayed as those which are of importance, and indeed the 

 latter are often, from the nature of the case, obscure or even indistinguish- 

 able. Yet we may be sure that every possible care was taken to avoid 

 the disappointment thus caused.^ 



That the eggs laid by Birds should offer to some extent characters of 

 utility to systematists is only to be expected, when it is considered that 

 those from the same nest generally bear an extraordinary family-likeness 

 to one another, and also that in certain groups the essential peculiarities 

 of the egg-shell are constantly and distinctively characteristic. Thus no 

 one who has ever examined the egg of a Duck or of a Tinamou would 

 ever be in danger of not referring another Tinamou's egg or another 

 Duck's that he might see to its proper Family, and so on with many 

 others.- Yet, as is stated in the text (p. 182), the expectation held 

 out to oologists, and by them, of the benefits to be conferred upon 

 Systematic Ornithology from the study of Birds' eggs, so far from being 

 fulfilled, has not unfrequently led to disappointment. But at the same 

 time many of the shortcomings of Oology in this respect must be set down 

 to the defective information and observation of its votaries, among whom 

 some have been very lax, not to say incautious, in not ascertaining on due 

 evidence the parentage of their specimens, and the author next to be 

 named is open to this charge. After several minor notices that appeared 

 in journals at various times, Des Murs in 1860 brought out at Paris his 

 ambitious Traits general d'Oologie Omithologique au point de vue de la 

 Classification, elsewhere mentioned (Eggs, page 191, note), which contains 

 (pp. 529-538) a 'Systema Oologicum' as the final result of his labours. 

 In this scheme Birds are arranged according to what the author considered 

 to be their natural method and sequence ; but the result exhibits some 

 unions as ill-assorted as can well be met with in the whole range of 

 tentative arrangements of the Class, together with some very unjustifiable 

 divorces. This being the case, it would seem useless to take up further 

 space by analysing the several proposed modifications of Cuvier's arrange- 

 ment which the author takes as his basis. The great merit of the work 

 is that the author shews the necessity of taking Oology into account when 

 investigating the classification of Birds, but it also proves that in so doing 

 the paramount consideration lies in the thorough sifting of evidence as 

 to the parentage of the eggs which are to serve as the building stones of 

 the fabric to be erected {Ibis, 1860, pp. 331-335). The attempt of Des 

 Murs was praiseworthy ; but in effect it has utterly failed, notwithstand- 



^ A countless number of osteological papers have appeared in journals, and to 

 name them would here be impossible. The more important have generally been 

 mentioned in the body of this work in connexion with the species or group of species 

 they illustrate ; but many that are good are necessarily passed over. 



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