74 



NA rURE 



[May 22, 1890 



point to the University Colleges, so far, at all events, as 

 regards honours in arts and science. 



We are informed by a legal correspondent that a strong 

 Committee has been formed at Lincoln's Inn to promote 

 reforms in legal education. We trust this may prove the 

 first step to the constitution, on the teaching side of the 

 University, with the co-operation of the Inns of Court, of 

 a real Legal Faculty, on a basis similar to that above re- 

 commended for medicine. To separate the professional 

 Faculties from the academical, in a University of the nine- 

 teenth century, savours of anachronism. 



RECENT ORNITHOLOGICAL WORKS. 



Classification of Birds ; an Attempt to diagnose the Sub- 

 classes, Orders, Sub-orders, and some of the Families of 

 Existing Birds. By Henry Seebohm. Pp. i-xi., 1-53. 

 (London : R. H. Porter, 1890.) 



A Hand-book of European Birds, for the use of Field 

 Naturalists and Collectors. By James Backhouse, Junr. 

 Pp. i-viii., 1-334. (London : Gurney and Jackson, 

 1890.) 



THE most important ornithological work which has 

 recently appeared is undoubtedly Mr. Henry 

 Seebohm's " Classification of Birds." Any attempt to 

 arrange the class " Aves " is always warmly welcomed by 

 ornithologists ; and whether they agree or not with all 

 Mr. Seebohm's conclusions, they have every reason to 

 be grateful to him for an honest effort to diagnose the 

 existing orders of birds. It has been known to most of 

 us that Mr. Seebohm has been engaged, with his usual 

 energy, in a close study of avian osteology for the last 

 two years, and the present " Classification " is the result 

 of his original studies, combined with a careful digest of 

 the work of his predecessors in the same field — Parker, 

 Fiirbringer, Garrod, Forbes, and others. 



The author starts with a high purpose, and with a 

 resolve that diagnoses shall be found which shall hold 

 good for each group of birds, and that the combination 

 of characters set forth shall be diagnostic of that group, 

 and of that group alone. No one, therefore, can grumble 

 at the arrangement, because the order can be altered at 

 will, each order and sub-order possessing their absolutely 

 special characters. Two schemes for the higher classi- 

 fication of birds are proposed. In the first one the author 

 recognizes six sub-classes, as follows : — I. Passeriformes ; 

 II. Falconiformes; III. Coraciiformes ; IV. Anseriformes ; 

 V. Galliformes ; and VI. Struthioniformes. 



In his " Alternative Scheme " he reduces the number 

 of sub-classes into five, by merging the Falconiformes, 

 the Anseriformes, and the Galliformes into the sub-classes 

 Ciconiiformes and Galliformes, the latter taking in the 

 Lamellirostres of the first classification, and sending in 

 return the Tubinares and Impennes back to the Ciconii- 

 formes. 



The condition of the young at birth forms the ground- 

 work of this second method of classification, which the 

 author approves, but the subject is treated in a method 

 different from that of Sundevall, who also thought highly of 

 the condition of the nestling bird as an element of primary 

 classification, but, according to Mr. Seebohm, he attached 

 an exaggerated importance to some of the facts. That 

 the character of the nestling is bound to play a significant 

 NO. 1073, "^'OL. 42] 



part in the classification of birds we can well understand, 

 but at present the various developments of the downy 

 young are, we believe, but imperfectly understood. Thus we 

 may remark that in the Passeriformes we know at least 

 two exceptions to their diagnosis as given by Mr. 

 Seebohm, viz. in the Shore Lark {Otocorys alpestris), and 

 in a curious bird from Ecuador, Ptilochloris buckleyi, 

 belonging to the family Pipridce. Other examples will 

 doubtless be found, and yet closer examination will 

 probably demonstrate that the downy stage through 

 which these Passerine birds pass will be of a different 

 fundamental character from the downy stages of other 

 birds. 



There can be but little doubt that of the two schemes 

 provided by Mr. Seebohm the second one is the best, but 

 a stumbling-block at first sight appears to be the position 

 of the Colunibce in the Passeriformes, and that of the Cath- 

 artes {lege Cathartides) in the Coraciiformes with the 

 Kingfishers and Hornbills. It is perhaps the novelty of 

 these allocations that causes our hesitation in accepting 

 them, for after all a Turkey Vulture and a Ground 

 Hornbill {Bucorax) have considerable resemblance. In 

 any case Mr. Seebohm gives characters for the diagnosis 

 of all his Orders and Sub-orders, and their linear arrange- 

 ment can be shifted at will. Each order and sub-order 

 is not only defined, but a table accompanies every one 

 of them, showing the whole of the thirty-six minor 

 divisions, exhibiting by an asterisk the want of any 

 specified character, and so narrowing the issue of de- 

 finition in each instance. The author is greatly to be 

 congratulated on the result of his two years' labour, which 

 will doubtless be the stepping-stone to further treatises on 



the classification of birds. 



I 



We cannot congratulate Mr. James Backhouse on his 

 " Hand-book of European Birds." The author's intention 

 doubtless is good, but though " many of the finest bird 

 collections in the Kingdom have been carefully examined, 

 and the best modern authorities have been consulted," 

 the result of all this compilation is not satisfactory, and a 

 want of practical acquaintance with the manner in which 

 a " Hand-book" should be written is apparent at every step. 

 We fear that the outhne figure of a bird, drawn by Mr. 

 R. E. Holding, in order to show the nomenclature of the 

 different parts of a bird, will not commend itself to any 

 experienced field naturalist or collector, who will probably 

 know more of his subject than did the artist who per- 

 petrated this figure. We will do no more than point out 

 that the "cervix" is called the "hind neck" by most 

 ornithological writers, that the " malar region " is generally 

 spoken of as "the cheeks," that the positions of the 

 " breast," " abdomen," and " anal region " are all placed 

 wrongly in the figure, and that the " crissum " is not the 

 same as the " lower tail-coverts." The divisions of the 

 back are also wrongly defined. Luckily, the author 

 himself does not recognize the terminology of his own 

 " bird-map," or the confusion of parts would have been 

 disastrous. 



We had fondly hoped that, having started the " Birds 

 of Europe" in 1871 (since completed by Mr. Dresser), 

 with the idea that a work of that character should include 

 all the species of the Western Patearctic region, which 

 is at least a natural division of the globe, it would not 



