No. 3-] THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE PIGEONS. 511 



Pezophaps and Didiis. It represents quite a natural taxonomy, 

 and essentially agrees with what I have proposed at the begin- 

 ning of the present memoir, that is, when we consider that 

 Dr. Sharpe's suborders are coequal with my superfamilies, 

 and he has included in his classification all of the known fami- 

 lies and subfamilies in the world's avifauna. I am inclined to 

 think — that is, judging from osteological premises alone — 

 the latter two groups, namely, the families and the subfami- 

 lies, can be somewhat restricted or reduced. In any event, 

 the main osteological characters I have given in this memoir 

 for the species of existing pigeons will, in all essential particu- 

 lars, apply to any representative of that group in any part of 

 the world. Osteologically they are quite a homogeneous 

 assemblage of birds. 



