X INTRODUCTION. 



aud Forbes both died too early to have mastered the mysteries of the 

 muscles of birds. The vocal organs, the nervous system, and the digestive 

 apparatus must be studied more profoundly, to say nothing of the impor- 

 tance of a better knowledge of embryology and many minor branches of 

 morphology, before ornithologists can agree upon a classification of birds. 

 Before finally dismissing the subject, however, it may not be out of place 

 to allude to one point of view which seems in danger of assuming a position 

 almost too exclusive. Since the acceptance of the theory of evolution, 

 morphologists have somewhat changed their ground, or at least think they 

 have. Their sole aim appears now to be the discovery of the pedigree of 

 plants and animals, whereas formerly arguments based upon the study of 

 morphological facts were either attempts to discover a vague and mys- 

 terious " System of Nature," or to find out the design or purpose which 

 the multitudinous variations of structure were intended to fulfil. It is 

 often assumed that teleology was exploded by the adoption of the theory 

 of evolution ; but it seems to me that all evolution has proceeded on a 

 teleological basis. AVhat I wish to impress upon the reader is the great 

 fact, that though the classification of birds is a subject of the most pro- 

 found interest and is, in other words, the discovery of their phylogenetic 

 relations, it is, after all, only the foundation on w^hich the science of orni- 

 thology is to be built. The history of birds is not completed when the 

 details of their pedigree have been unravelled, as some writers on the sub- 

 ject seem to think : all that has been done is to clear the way for the real 

 work by a preliminary chapter. 



We may therefore leave the question of the classification of birds to 

 the decision of the future, and, whilst recognizing its supreme import- 

 ance, regard it as a subject somewhat outside the scope of our present 

 inquiry. 



The progress of ornithology in Britain may be conveniently studied in 

 periods — the first comprising a century, the second half a century, and the 

 third, fourth, and fifth each a quarter of a century. 



1660-1759. The former date may conveniently be accepted as the com- 

 mencement of the historical period of British ornithology, it being the 

 twenty-fifth year of the life of Francis Willughby, the earliest ornithologist 

 of our islands Avhose works are known. Six years later appeared the 

 earliest known list of British birds, which is contained in 15 small pages in 

 Merrett^s * Pinax Ilcrum Naturalium Britannicarum ; ' but this period of a 

 hundred years is chiefiy remarkable for the appearance, in 1676, of a Latin 

 work, which was issued two years later in an English dress, 'The Orni- 

 thology of Francis Willughby, by John Ray.' This book is not exclusively 

 confined to British birds ; and though its interest is now chiefly archseo- 

 logical, it contains abundant evidence oi an extended knowledge of birds, 

 and a deep interest in their habits, not only on the part of the two authors, 



