INTRODUCTION iig 



It may be conceded that even among Oscines ^ there are some other groups 

 or sections of groups in which the transformation in appearance from 

 youth to full age is as slight. This is so among the Paridae ; and there 

 are a few groups in which the young, prior to the first moult, may be 

 more brightly tinted than afterwards, as in the genera Phylloscopus and 

 Anthus. These anomalies cannot be explained as yet, bxit we see that 

 they do not extend to more than a portion, and generally a small portion, 

 of the groups in which they occur ; whereas in the Crows the likeness 

 between young and old is, so far as is known, common to almost every 

 member of the Family.- It is therefore confidently that the present 

 writer asserts, as Prof. Parker, with far more right to speak on the 

 subject, has already done, that at the head of the Class Aves must stand 

 the Family Corvidx, of which Family no one will dispute the superiority 

 of the genus Corvus, nor in that genus the pre-eminence of Corvus 

 corax — the widely-ranging Eaven of the Northern Hemisphere, the Bird 

 perhaps best known from the most ancient times, and, as it happens, that 

 to which belongs the earliest historical association with man. There are 

 of course innumerable points in regard to the Classification of Birds 

 which are, and for a long time will continue to be, hypothetical as matters 

 of opinion, but this one seems to stand a fact on the firm ground of proof.^ 

 A perusal of the foregoing can hardly fail to confirm the doubts 

 already expressed in the initial ' Note ' (page vii.) as to the validity of 

 any Systematic Arrangement of Birds as yet put forth. Still the history 

 of Ornithology, as here sketched, gives hope of the ultimate attainment 

 of the object sought by so many earnest students of the Science, though 

 a long time may yet elapse before that end is reached. As in all branches 

 of Zoology accession of knowledge, be it the making of a new discovery 

 or the solution of an old difficulty, is followed by, or may almost be said 

 to produce, a fresh series of questions of a kind that it is absolutely 

 impossible to anticipate, and it needs only the application of experi- 

 ence to foresee that this is likely to continue. But slow as is the process 

 of eliminating error, it is certain that, notwithstanding occasional relapses, 

 considerable advance has been made in the right direction. It is even 

 possible that progress will be accelerated by some unexpected turn of 



^ In other Orders there are many, for instance some Humniiiig-birds and King- 

 fishers ; but this only seems to sliew the excellence in those Orders attained by the 

 forms which enjoy the privilege. 



- The Canada Jay, Dysornithia canadensis, as rightly noted by Dr. Stejneger 

 (torn. cit. p. 483), is apparently the only exception, and I do not attempt to acconnt 

 for it. 



^ Dr. Stejneger {loc. cit.) would prefer with Sundevall, who certainly was not 

 affected by morphological considerations, placing the Finches, FringiUidse,, at the 

 head of the Passeres, and selects as his example the Evening Grosbeak, Hesperi2Jhona 

 vespertina, of North America to demonstrate his position. That the Finches stand 

 high I readily admit, but I fail to appreciate the force of the argument lie adduces. 

 Among other things he declares that in them " the plumage of the young is essentially 

 like that of the adults" — a statement which will hardly be accepted by most ornitho- 

 logists, and especially not so far as I can judge {cf. Audubon, B. Am. iii. pi. 207) in 

 the example of his choice, which seems to be rather an unhappy one, seeing that in 

 its immature plumage it dift'ers so much from the adult as to have been described by 

 a fairly good authority (Lesson, Illiistr. Zool. pi. xxxi. ) as a distinct species under the 

 name of Coccothraustes bonapartii. 



