INTRODUCTION 27 
set forth a Tentamen Systematis naturalis Aviwm, no less modestly entitled 
than modestly executed. The attempt of Merrem must be regarded as the 
virtual starting-point of the more recent efforts in Systematic Ornithology, 
and in that view its proposals deserve to be stated at length. Some of its 
details, as is only natural, cannot be sustained with our present knowledge, 
resulting from the information accumulated by various investigators through- 
out more than eighty years ; but it is certainly not too much to say that 
Merrem’s merits are incomparably superior to those of any of his pre- 
decessors as well as to those of the majority of his successors for a long 
time to come ; while the neglect of his treatise by many (until of late it 
‘would not be erroneous to say by most) of those who have since written on 
the subject seems inexcusable save on the score of inadvertence. Premising 
then that the chief characters assigned by this ill-appreciated systematist to 
his several groups are drawn from almost all parts of the structure of Birds, 
and are supplemented by some others of their more prominent peculiarities, 
we present the following abstract of his scheme : 1— 
I, AVES CARINATA. 
1, Aves aerez. 
A. Rapaces.—a. Accipitres—Vultur, Falco, Sagittarius. 
5s SETI. 
B. Hymenopodes. —a. Chelidones : 
a. C. nocturne—Caprimulgus. 
B. C. diurne—Hirundo. 
6. Oscines : 
a. O. conirostres—Lowxia, Fringilla, Emberiza, Tan- 
gara. 
8. O. tenuirostres— Alauda, Motacilla, Muscicapa, 
Todus, Lanius, Ampelis, Turdus, Paradisea, 
Buphaga, Sturnus, Oriolus, Gracula, Coracias, 
Corvus, Pipra*, Parus, Sitta, Certhie quedam. 
Mellisuge.—Trochilus, Certhie# et Upupe plurime. 
. Dendrocolapte.— Picus, Yuna. 
Brevilingues.—a. Upupa; 6. Ispide. 
. Levirostres.—a. Ramphastus, Scythrops?; b. Psittacus. 
. Coceyges.—Cuculus, Trogon, Bucco, Crotophaga. 
2. Aves terrestres. 
A. Columba. 
B. Galline. 
3. Aves aquatice. 
A. Odontorhynchi: a. Boscades—Anas ; 6. Mergus ; c. Pheenicopterus. 
B. Platyrhynchi.—Pelicanus, Phaeton, Plotus. 
C. Aptenodytes. 
D. Urinatrices: a. Cepphi— Alca, Colymbi pedibus palmatis; 6. Podiceps, 
Colymbt pedibus lobatis. 
E. Stenorhynchi.—Procellaria, Diomedea, Larus, Sterna, Rhynchops. 
4, Aves palustres. 
A. Rusticole : a. Phalarides—Rallus, Fulica, Parra; b. Limosuge— Numenius, 
Scolopax, Tringa, Charadrius, Recurvirostra. 
B. Gralle: a. Erodii—Ardew ungue intermedio serrato, Cancroma ; b. Pelargi 
—Ciconia, Mycteria, Tantali quidam, Scopus, Platalea; c. Gerani—- 
Ardex cristate, Grues, Psophia. 
C. Otis. 
II. Aves RATITE.—Struthio. 
ArBYA 
1 The names of the genera are, he tells us, for the most part those of Linneus, 
as being the best-known, though not the best. To some of the Linnean genera he 
