THE HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY 15 



theu was, he took that lead naturally ; and the majority of 

 writers since his day have largely compiled from him and his 

 collaborators. He himself compiled largely : taking the best 

 points from ])revious writers, he has added so many pertinent 

 suggestions to his careful deductions from them that one can 

 naturally and almost justly consider the whole matter as Mr. 

 Baird's own personal emanation. This is not done in any 

 spirit of injustice to others, for no one was quicker in giving 

 credit for any material which he might have used of another 

 person's than was he ; but his happy mode of presenting even 

 the dryest technique makes one feel a master hand in all that 

 he did. One is safe to be guided by the directing influence of 

 the works of this truly great man. 



J. C. Eyton, 1859-67, produced, to a large extent, the sys- 

 tem which Ave very naturally look to Professor Richaed 

 OwEX to adduce, namely : one based almost wholly upon the 

 OSTEOLOGICAL characters of Birds. Its importance is mani- 

 fest at a glance. It has entered largely into our later classifi- 

 cations, and in recent years become especially prominent. 

 Professor Owe>;, Sir Richard Owen, 1866, used many os- 

 teological characters in a classification of Birds which he pro- 

 posed, but its chief feature consisted in a radical transposition 

 of the whole plan of arrangement as used up to this time ; a 

 putting of the lowest AVater Birds first, and following this in- 

 verted order to the highest which came last, proved an inno- 

 vation that became immensely popular at once, the more so 

 as its appearance seemed to correspond with the recently 

 largely adopted theories of evolution. It was something new, 

 and had the impress of a great man. W. Lilljeborg, 1866, 

 was a professor in the University of Upsala, Sweden, and him- 

 self a Swede. What he has accomplished as a student of Or- 

 nithology few have so far equalled. The basis of his struct- 

 ure was what he called " irritability," or activity as we 

 might perhaps better say. This, he contended, presented the 

 fittest expression of Ornithological preeminence. On this 

 scale he placed the Thrushes first. Our present system is but 



