Vol. XIXT 

 1902 J 



Recent Literature. 



99 



tic or scientific, and popular. The former deals with the structure and 

 classification of birds, their synonymies and technical descriptions. The 

 latter treats of their habits, songs, nesting, and other facts pertaining to 



their life-histories Popular ornithology is the more entertaining, 



with its savor of wildwood, green fields, the riverside and seashore, bird 

 songs, and the many fascinating things connected with out-of-door 

 Nature. But systematic ornithology, being a component part of biology — 

 the science of life — is the more instructive and therefore more important." 

 In this hastv generalization an important field of research has not only 

 been disregarded but, by inference at least, ruled out as not only not sci- 

 entific, but as not falling within the author's definition of biology. This 

 is, in a broad sense, the life-histories, including the relation of the animal 

 to its environment, and the many problems of evolution that depend for 

 their solution upon the study of the living creature. 



Mr. Ridgway considers at some length the general subject of the classi- 

 fication of birds, giving diagnoses of the higher groups, with keys to the 

 subclasses, orders, suborders, and families, so far as they come within the 

 scope of his work. The recent classifications of birds are critically 

 examined and compared, and the synonymy of the higher groups, and 

 copious references to authorities, are given in footnotes. Mr. Ridgway' s 

 own classification as adopted for his work may be presented as follows : 



Class AvES. 

 Subclasses. Saururte ( = x\rchteopteryx). Ornithurse. 



Orders of the Ornithur.^. 



Odontolcx. 



OdontotornicT. 



Struthioniformes. 



Rheiformes. 



Casuariiformes. 



Apterygif or mes . 



Sphenisciformes. 



Colymbiformes. 



Procellariiformes. 



Ciconiiformes. 



Anseriformes. 



Falconiiformes. 



Crypturiformes. 



Galliformes. 



Gruiformes. 



Charadriiformes. 



Cuculiformes. 



Coraciiformes. 



Passeriformes. 



Suborders of Passeres. 

 Desmodactvli. Eleutherodactyli. 



Superfamilies of the Eleutherodactyli. 



Clamatores (chiefly American), 

 Pseudoscines (confined to Australia^. 

 Oscines. 



