OF ORNITHOLOGY 141 



be allowed in these pages. A hasty glance at the 

 classification of an eminent English writer, in a recent 

 work just come to my notice, strengthens my convic- 

 tion that the linear theory of classification is no longer 

 tenable. The idea of direct relationship, from the be- 

 ginning to the end of the series, through similarity of 

 common features — say of bill, wing, tarsus, etc., — 

 which has occupied the mind of ornithologists for over 

 two hundred years, has, by our latest and most emi- 

 nent authorities, given place to what I will call, to coin 

 a word of my own, The Cubical Theory of relation- 

 ship and inter-relationship from a central point Aves. 

 Groups of birds, more or less complete in themselves, 

 are so far removed from each other that no recent or 

 fossil forms supply the deficiency. Our ornithological 

 ensemble is, therefore, not a linear one. As a very 

 simple illustration : We have Land Birds and Water 

 Birds, we have also Game Land Birds and Game 

 Water Birds. We have Fowl among both Land and 

 Water Birds. Then we have a host of peculiar forms 

 that conform to nothing but themselves. In many 

 ways does this cubical theory of distinct phases of 

 Bird life peculiar in themselves and resembling noth- 

 ing else, except in being a Bird, show itself throughout 

 the whole Class. 



In the following list, the English equivalent for the 

 Latin or Greek name has been faithfully translated ; 

 though they do not seem always to fully apply, they 

 are at present the best that we have to offer, and often 

 too familiar to be changed without good reasons. The 

 student would find a great deal of advantage, also, in 

 studying the derivation and meanings of names in Or- 

 nithological nomenclature. A few names, bracketed 



