96 



NATURE 



[June ^o, 



On comparing these volumes of the Museum Catalogue 

 with the work before us, it will be found that in many 

 instances Mr. Blanford has somewhat simplified the 

 classification adopted. This is most markedly the case 

 in the pigeons, the existing members of which were divided 

 by Count Salvadori into five families ; whereas Mr. 

 Blanford, so far at least as Indian forms are concerned, 

 admits but one. Although he has not to deal with the 

 former on this occasion, he further suggests that the 

 separation of the Tetrao7iidce as a family apart from the 

 PhasianidcB seems scarcely justifiable by the facts. And 

 on turning to the minor groups, we find a similar wide 

 and comprehensive view taken as to their respective 

 limitations. Leaving out of consideration the very dis- 

 tinct demoiselle crane {Anthropoides), it may be noticed 

 as an example of this feature that recent writers have 

 assigned the three species of true cranes which visit 

 India proper to as many distinct genera, respectively 

 distinguished, mainly, ifnot entirely, by the comparatively 

 insignificant character of the extent to which the head is 

 clothed with feathers. All the three species are indeed 

 structurally similar and essentially the same type of bird, 

 and to many at least it will be a source of satisfaction to 

 find them once again reinstated in the original genus 

 Grus. Possibly a further improvement would have been 

 to have placed the Burmese representive of the Sarus 

 crane of India as a sub-species rather than a species, 

 but this is a matter of detail. 



In museum work (as in stamp-collecting) there seems 

 to be an inevitable and inherent tendency on the part of 

 specialists to go on refining and discriminating in the 

 detection of small points of difiference, and thus to raise 

 the individuals or groups in which such minute points of 

 difference occur to a higher and higher rank. And in 

 consequence of this extremely natural ultra-refinement 

 (due to a ripe knowledge of minuteness of detail), the 

 mutual affinities of animals tend to become obscured or 

 even lost, while the science is cumbered with an excess 

 of more or less superfluous terms. It is therefore a 

 distinct advantage when a man with the wide experience 

 and knowledge derived from the study of other groups, 

 possessed by the author of the present volume, sets him- 

 self the task of revising the classification of a group 

 which has occupied the attention of a large number of 

 specialists. And whatever may be the opinion from the 

 specialist point of view, it can scarcely be doubted that 

 to naturalists who desire to take a broad and comprehen- 

 sive view of zoological affinities, Mr. Blanford's simpler 

 arrangement is decidedly preferable to the numerous 

 sub-divisions adopted by some of his fellow workers. 



As regards the general classification adopted, it is 

 gratifying to notice that it has not been considered 

 necessary by the author that he should propose any new 

 scheme; and the various major groups accordingly, for 

 the most at any rate, appear under the old familiar names. 

 In some instances, however, generic terms in common 

 use have had to be rejected on account of priority or 

 preoccupation, and a few birds consequently appear under 

 unfamiliar titles. The horned pheasants, for example, 

 figure as Tragopan in place of Ceriornis, but since the 

 former name is often used as the popular title of these 

 birds, the change in this case is less startling than usual. 

 NO. 1496, VOL. 58] 



As in all those made by the author, this substitution was 

 a necessity according to the rules of nomenclature. 

 i The total number of Indo-Burmese birds regarded as 

 entitled to rank as distinct species in the four volumes 

 devoted to the group is given by the author as 1626. 

 Years ago, from a much smaller area, Jerdon recognised 

 1016. In Mr. Hume's catalogue of 1879 a total of T788 

 entries were recorded, but of these 106 were rejected as 

 invalid, and 74 regarded as doubtful, thus leaving a total of 

 1608, or very nearly the same as the number admitted by 

 Mr. Blanford and his fellow author Mr. Gates. Since a 

 large number of new species have been described of late 

 years, this indicates that due attention has been given on 

 the part of ornithologists to the elimination of nominal 

 ones. An exact estimation of the number of species of 

 any group of animals inhabiting a particular country 

 must, however, depend to a considerable extent on the 

 personal equation of the describer. As the author well 

 observes : — 



" The precise number of species is naturally dependent 

 on a personal factor, some writers being more liberal than 

 others in admitting the claims to specific rank of races 

 which are distinguished by small differences of plumage 

 or measurement, or which are connected by intervening 

 links with the typical form. Such races or sub-species, 

 as they are called, have not, as a rule, been separately 

 numbered and described in the present work, but they 

 have received due notice and their characters have been 

 explained." 



From this it would appear that Mr. Blanford has not 

 yet brought himself to accept the principle of trinomialism 

 for birds, although his recent paper on the large Indian 

 squirrel seems to show that he has already done so in 

 the case of mammals ; and the innovation would, to our 

 thinking, be an advantage among the former. 



As is always the case with the author's work, his 

 descriptions are most accurately and concisely written, 

 and they all bear the impress of having been drawn up 

 afresh from the birds themselves, and not merely extracted 

 and furbished up from the writings of others. In many 

 of the groups described, and especially the game-birds, 

 the females are so different in plumage from the males, as 

 to require a description nearly as long as that devoted to 

 the latter, so that the labour involved in the work is 

 almost double that which might at first sight be supposed 

 necessary. Equally exact, and at the same time im- 

 portant, are the details given m connection with the 

 geographical range of the genera and species ; a subject 

 too often neglected by the earlier writers. 



One thing we should like to suggest to the author,, 

 and that is that in future works he should give the 

 reference to the place of publication of the generic 

 names and their synonyms, instead of merely citing the 

 author and date. The characters of the eggs in each 

 genus might also have been added ; while a few more 

 details regarding the nesting habits of some of the more 

 important species would, if space permitted, have added 

 to the interest of the book. 



Many books on Indian game-birds and the kindred 

 groups are already in existence, and a new one on a 

 small scale is now in course of pubHcation ; but it may 

 be safely said that as a work of reference, embodying all 

 the important information regarding these groups, the 



