On the Birds of the Calcutta District. 39 



greatly exaggerated ia j^gotheles and Caprimulgus ; while 

 we have almost a transition to the desmognathous structure 

 in Nyctibius " (P. Z. S. 1867, p. 456). In connection with 

 this latter i'act remember, too, that the Striges are desmo- 

 gnathous, and that such a form as Steatornis exists. Then 

 the pterylosis of many of the Cuprimulgi has an owlish 

 pattern that means something. Remember, too, Megascops 

 has two "colour- phases,'^ so have some Caprimulgi; Megascops 

 and some other Owls have "^ plumicorns,'^ and so have some 

 Caprimulgi ; most Owls are nocturnal, so are many Goat- 

 suckers ; and so we might go on, carrying the comparison 

 far into the fields of anatomy. Do not allow too much zeal 

 in one quarter to mask the facts in another. 



AvES are a wonderfully closely-clustered group of Verte- 

 brates, and it is extremely difficult to get at their afl&nities 

 and inter-relationships. They will classify themselves to a 

 large extent when the anatomy of four-fifths of the forms, in- 

 cluding that of all the "outliers,^' is known to us; and only 

 when that is done and accomplished shall we be in a position 

 to define their affinities correctly and to make a classification 

 of them — not before. More material, and of the right kind, is 

 what we need now, and its careful and thorough working-up. 

 In my opinion no classification of bii'ds has been published 

 since the days of Linnaeus that must not be considered, in 

 many of its parts, wholly provisional. Until further pro- 

 gress has been made it is, I think, very questionable whether 

 any material service to ornithology is rendered by persistently 

 propounding the new systems of avian taxonomy with which 

 we are now often afflicted. 



IV. — On the Birds of the Calcutta District. 

 By Philip W. Muxn, M.B.O.U. 



The following notes were made during a residence of several 

 years at Titaghur, on the Hooghly, about twelve miles north 

 Oi Calcutta, and one mile south of Barrackpore. Though 

 they chiefly relate to the birds noticed in the neighbourhood 



