42 



ORNITHOLOGY 



associated under the name Picarix seems likely enough, 

 and the first two " Suborders" are probably natural groups, 

 though possibly groups of different value. In regard to 

 the rest comment is for the present deferred. The Psittaei, 

 Striges, and Accipitres, containing respectively the Parrots 

 ('/.'' ), Owls (q.v.), and diurnal Birds-of-Prey, form the next 

 three " Orders " — the last being held to include 3 Families, 

 Falconidx, Catliartidx, and Serpentariidx, which is perhaps 

 the best that can be done with them — the difficult question 

 as to the position of Cariama (Seriema, q.v.) being 

 decided against the admission of that form to the last 

 Family, notwithstanding its remarkable resemblance to 

 Serpenta?~ius (Secretary-bird, q.v.). We have then the 

 Steganopodes to make the Sixth "Order," consisting of the 

 5 Families usually grouped together as by Brandt (supra, 

 p. 25) and others, and these are followed naturally enough 

 by the Herons (vol. xi. p. 7G0) under the name of 

 Herodiones, to which the 3 Families Ardeidx, Ciconiidse 

 (Stork, q.v.), and Plataleidx (Spoonbill, q.v.) are referred; 

 but the Flamingoes (vol. ix. p. 286), under Prof. Huxley's 

 title Odonioglossx, form a distinct " Order." The Ninth 

 "Order" is now erected for the Palamedex (Screamer, 

 q.v.), which precede the Anseres — a group that, disen- 

 cumbered from both the last two, is eminently natural, and 

 easily dealt with. A great break then occurs, and the 

 new series is opened by the Eleventh "Order," Columbx, 

 with 3 Families, C(tr/iu/i/ttt</idx, Cohtiithidx, and Gouridx, 

 " or perhaps a fourth," DidunmLidx? — the Dodos (vol. vii. 

 p. 321) being "held to belong to quite a separate section 

 of the order." The Twelfth "Order" is formed by the 

 Pterocletes, the Sand-Grouse ; and then we have the very 

 natural group Gallinx ranking as the Thirteenth. The 

 next two are the Opislhocomi and Hemipodii for the 

 Hoactzin (vol. xii. p. 28) and the Turnicidse (often 

 known as Button-Quails) respectively, to which follow as 

 Sixteenth and Seventeenth the Fulicarix ami Alectorides — 

 the former consisting of the Families Rallidx (Rail, q.v.) 

 and Heliornithidse, and the latter of what seems to be a 

 very heterogeneous compound of 6 Families — Aramidm, 

 Eurypygidx (Sun Bittern, q.v.), Gruidai (Crane, vol. vi. 

 p. 546), Psophiidx ( Trumpeter, q.v.), Cariamidx (Seriema, 

 q.v.), and Otididae 2 (Bustard, vol. iv. p. 578). It is con- 

 fessedly very puzzling to know how these varied types, or 

 sunie of them at least, should be classed ; but the need for the 

 establishment of this group, and especially the insertion in 

 it cf certain forms, is not explained by the author. Then 

 we have " Orders " Eighteen and Nineteen, the Limicolx, 

 with 6 Families, ami Gavix, consisting only of Laridx (Gull, 

 vol. xi. p. 274), which taken in their simplest condition do 

 not present much difficulty. The last are followed by 

 Tubinares, the Petrels (q.v.), and these by Pygopodes, to 

 which only 2 Families Colymbidx (DlVER, vol. vii. p. 292) 

 ami Aleidae are allowed — the Grebes (vol. xi. p. 79) being 

 included in the former. The Impennes or Penguins (q.v.) 

 form the Twenty-second, and Tinamous (q.v.) as Crypturi 

 complete the (.'annate Subclass. For the Ratitx only 

 three "Orders" are allotted — Apteryges, Casvarii, ami 

 Strutkioneb, 



As a whole it is impossible not to speak well of the 

 scheme thus sketched out ; nevertheless it does seem in 

 some parts to be open to amendment, though the task of 

 attempting to suggest any modifications of it by way of 

 improvement is one that the present writer approaches 

 with reluctance and the utmost diffidence. Yet the task, 

 it appears, must be undertaken. From the preceding 



1 In the eighth e.liti<m of tin- List of Vertebrated Animalsm the 

 Zoological Gardens, which, being published in 1883, may be taken as 

 expressing Mr Solater's latest views, tin- first two Families only are 

 . the last two being placed under Columbi la 



- Wron »ly spelt Otidee. 



pages, recounting the efforts of many system-makers — 

 good, bad, and indifferent — it will have been seen what a 

 very great number and variety of characters need to be had 

 in remembrance while planning any scheme that will at 

 all adequately represent the results of the knowledge 

 hitherto attained, and the best lesson to be learnt from 

 them is that our present knowledge goes but a very little 

 way in comparison with what we, or our successors, may 

 hope to reach in years to come. Still we may feel pretty 

 confident that we are on the right track, and, moreover, 

 that here and there we can plant our feet on firm ground, 

 however uncertain, not to say treacherous, may be the 

 spaces that intervene. Now that geographical exploration 

 has left so small a portion of the earth's surface unvisited, 

 we cannot reasonably look for the encountering of new 

 forms of ornithic life that, by revealing hitherto unknown 

 stepping stones, will quicken our course or effectively point 

 out our path. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the two most 

 important and singular types of existing Birds — Balsenici ps 

 and Ehinochetus — that in later years have rewarded the 

 exertions of travelling naturalists, have proved rather 

 sources of perplexity than founts of inspiration. Should 

 fortune favour ornithologists in the discovery of fossil 

 remains, they will unquestionably form the surest guide to 

 our faltering steps ; but experience forbids us to expect 

 much aid from this quarter, however warmly we may wish 

 for it, and the pleasure of any discovery of the kind would 

 be enhanced equally by its rarity as by its intrinsic worth. 

 However, it is now a well accepted maxim in zoology that 

 the mature forms of the past are repeated in the immature 

 forms of the present, and that, where Palaeontology fails to 

 instruct us, Embryology may be trusted to no small extent 

 to supply the deficiency. Unhappily the embryology of 

 Birds has been as yet very insufficiently studied. We have 

 indeed embryological memoirs of a value that can scarcely 

 be rated too highly, but almost all are of a monographic 

 character. They are only oases in a desert of ignorance, 

 and a really connected and continuous series of investiga- 

 tions, such as the many morphological laboratories, now 

 established in various countries, would easily render 

 possible, has yet to be instituted. No methodical attempt 

 at this kind of work seems to have been made for nearly 

 half a century, and, with the advantage of modern 

 appliances, no one can justifiably doubt the success of a 

 renewal of such an attempt any more than he can possibly 

 foresee the precise nature of the revelations that would 

 come of it, 



The various schemes for classifying Birds set forth by the authors 

 of general text-books of Zoology do not call for any particular 

 review lure, as almost without exception they are so drawn up as 

 to be rather of the nature of a compromise than of a harmony. 

 The best ami most notable is perhaps that by Prof. Cakus iu 1868 

 (llandbuch </• r Z<">!"tji., i. pp. 191-368); but it is of course now 

 antiquated. The worst scheme is one of the most recent, that by 

 Trof. Ci.acs in 1882 (Grtmdzuge <h r Zoologic, ii. pp. 31S-3S8). Of 

 most other similar text-books that have come under the writer's 

 notice, especially those issued in the United Kingdom, the less 

 said the better. It is unfortunate that neither Prof. Gegenbaur 

 nor the late Prof. F. M. Balfour should have turned their attention 

 to this matter ; but an improvement may In- expected from Dr 

 Gadow, who is engaged iu completing the ornithological portion 

 of Bronu's Thierreich, so long left unfinished. 



Birds are animals so similar to Reptiles in all the most Relations 

 essential features of their organization that they may be of Birds 

 said to be merely an extremely modified and aberrant .?. ep " 

 Reptilian type. These are almost the very words of Prof. 

 Huxley twenty years ago, 3 and there are now but few 

 zoologists to dissent from his statement, which by another 

 man of science has been expressed in a phrase even more 



3 Lectures 07i the Elements of Comparative Anatomy, p. 69; see also 

 Carus, Homdbuch der Zoologie, i. p. 192. 



