30 



(=Passeroide8eof Stejneger). In the treatment of the Picariie there is 

 considerable discrepancy, and here it seems that some of Stejneger's 

 most enduring work will be found. Both he and Sclater are agreed 

 about the Coccyges ( = Cuculoidese of Stejneger), and Sclater's " Zygo- 

 dactylcs '' are nearly equal to Stejneger's Picoidece, excepting that the 

 Woodpeckers are considered by Stejneger to be merely a family of the 

 latter, whereas Sclater places them as a suborder Pici, equivalent to 

 Cypseli, &c. Again, the " Heterodactylce" of Sclater= T'ro^owoif/ete of 

 Stejneger. The Micropoidea of the latter are not equal to Sclater's 

 Cypseli, as the latter contain, besides the Cypselidce and the Trochilidce, 

 the family Caprimulgidce, Avhich, according to Stejneger, should come 

 with the Coraciidce, &c., in his super-family CoracoidecB. Thus Sclater's 

 larger suborder " Anisodactylce " is represented by three super-families 

 in Stejneger's scheme. 



In both arrangements the Psittaci and the Accipitres follow the 

 Picarice ; but then comes divergence, for whereas Sclater follows with 

 the Steganopodes to the Herudiones and Anseres, after the Huxleyan 

 method, Stejneger interposes the Columbce and GallincB, as well as the 

 Opisthocomi, before he reaches the Steganopodes. 



The disadvantage of dividing the authorship of a systematic work on 

 birds, which leaves the principal author at the mercy of colleagues who 

 may hold totally different opinions from his own, is shown in this book, 

 where, either by Mr. Elliot or Dr. Stejneger, the Hemipodii are totally 

 omitted. There is a figure of Turnix sylvatica, but the Hemipodes are 

 otherwise not mentioned ; so I cannot tell where Stejneger would have 

 placed this debatable family. It is not worth while to follow our two 

 systematists as to the value which they respectively assign to the Eury- 

 pygidce, Cariamidce, and others, as to whether they are Ralline or 

 Gruine; but it should be pointed out that, whereas Sclater places the 

 Helio7'nit1iid(B as a family of Rails, Stejneger considers them of the 

 value of a super-family {HeliornitJioidea) , and puts them between his 

 Colymboidea and Alcoideae. 



The year 1888 may truly be said to be an '' epoch-making " one in 

 the history of Ornithology, for the wonderful book which Professor 

 Max Furbringer published three years ago, under the title ^Unter- 

 suchungen zur Morphologic und Systematik der Vogel,' contains such 

 an amount of information that it would take a separate essay to sum- 

 marize it, even if the present speaker had the knowledge requisite for the 

 task, which he has not ; but, luckily for our purpose. Prof. Furbringer 

 has published a ' Versuch eines genealogischen Vogelsystemes ' at the 

 end of his great work, by which we are able to comprehend his con- 

 clusions ; and his arrangement of the Orders of Birds, allowing as it 

 does for the intercalation of the main groups of fossil forms, enables 



