12 PREFACE. 



aii<\vrr'<l many questions with regard to nomenclature and has given 

 assistance in other ways. The classification of the birds here adopted 

 is, with slight modification, that proposed by him in the Standard 

 Natural History, 1885. Prof. Frederick A. Lucas, assistant curator 

 of the department of comparative anatomy, United States National 

 Museum, has been helpful in many ways, and to him is due the final 

 disposition of certain of the genera and species. 

 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



New Yfrrk, May 1, 1901. 



