IT4 DICTIONARY OF BIRDS 
doubtless rightly attached to them does not help us, though perhaps the 
Fiamincos may. From fossil remains we know that they are not of 
yesterday ; and both to Huxley and to Dr. Gadow they seem intermediate 
between the Geese and the Storks and Herons. These last may well 
be considered to be akin to the SreaaNnopopzEs, which in their turn indi- 
cate some relation to the Acczpitres. 
Whatever may be the alliances of the genealogy of the Accipitres, the 
Diurnal Birds-of-Prey, their main body must stand alone, hardly divisible 
into more than two principal groups—(1) containing the Sarcorhamphidx 
or the Vultures of the New World (page 1016), and (2) all the rest, though 
no doubt the latter may be easily subdivided into two Families, Vulturidz 
and Falconidx, and the last into many smaller sections, as has commonly 
been done ; but then we have the outliers left. The African Serpentarude 
(SECRETARY-BIRD), though now represented only by a single species,! are 
fully allowed to form a type equivalent to the true Accipitres composing 
the main body, and in it we may possibly see a trace of the link connecting 
the Accipitres with the Heriodiones. 
It was so long the custom to place the OwLs next to the Diurnal Birds- 
of-Prey that any attempt to remove them from that position could not fail 
to incur criticism. Yet it is now admitted by almost every investigator 
that when we disregard their carnivorous habits, and certain modifications 
which may possibly be thereby induced, we find almost nothing of value to 
indicate relationship between the two groups. That the Striges stand quite 
independently of the Accipitres as above limited can hardly be doubted, 
and, while the Psittact (Parrot) form a very distinct group, and may 
on some grounds appear to be the nearest allies of the Accipitres, the 
nearest relations of the Owls must be looked for in the multifarious group 
Picari#. Here we have the singular Steatornts (GuacHARO), which, long 
confounded with the Caprimulgide (NiaHTJAR), has at last been recognized 
as an independent form, and it may possibly have branched off from a 
common ancestor with the Owls. The Nightjars may have done the like,? 
for there is really not much to ally them to the Cypselt (Swirt) and 
Trochili (HumMING- BIRD), the Macrochires proper, as has often been 
recommended, However, it should not be supposed that the place of 
the Striges is under the Picarix ; and the last are already a sufliciently 
heterogeneous assemblage. Whether the Pici (WoopPECKER) should be 
separated from the rest is a matter on which Prof. Fiirbringer and Dr. 
Gadow are at variance. That they constitute a very natural and easily 
defined group is indisputable ; more than that, they are perhaps the most 
differentiated group of all those that are retained in the “ Order” Picariz ; 
but it does not seem advisable at present to deliver them from that chaos 
when so many other groups have to be left in it. 
1 It was long suspected that that the genus Polyboroides of South Africa and 
Madagascar, from its general resemblance in plumage and outward form, might come 
into this group, but that idea has now been fully dispelled by M. A. Milne-Edwards 
in M. Grandidier’s magnificent Oiseaux de Madagascar (i. pp. 50-66). 
2 The great resemblance in coloration between Nightjars and Owls is of course 
obvious, so obvious indeed as to make one suspicious of their being akin ; but in 
reality the existence of the likeness is no bar to the aflinity of the groups ; it merely 
has to be wholly disregarded. 
