Oct. 14, 1886 | 
NATURE 
567 
favourite subject of his study, and indeed there are people 
who hardly hesitate to assert that the final cause of the 
existence of the family Zaagrid@ must have been to find 
occupation for that gentleman’s ingenuity in discriminat- 
ing, describing, and disposing its members. 
In consequence of this the present volume of this 
“Catalogue” appears as a finished piece of work. What- 
ever may have been the faults of the plan on which the 
whole was designed, here its defects are reduced to a 
minimum, so that few are made manifest. The relation- 
ship of the Cewredide to the Tanagride is outwardly 
pretty close, and there is as yet no indication that future 
research into their inward structure is likely to separate 
them more widely, though in the existing state of ornitho- 
tomical study it would not be safe to say more. 
Granting, then, as Mr. Sclater considers, that the former 
of these families is so nearly allied to the latter that “it is 
indeed somewhat difficult to separate them by external 
characters,” the comprehension of these two groups in 
one and the same volume is a very natural proceeding. As 
regards the third family, /cfexzd@, associated with them 
on the present occasion, opinions may reasonably differ. 
Mr. Sclater confesses himself open to doubt on this point; 
and, if he does so, a slight amount of agnosticism may be 
pardoned in others who know not one-half so much about 
them as he does. Possibly if he had referred to some 
remarks of Prof. Parker’s (Zrams. Zool. Soc., x., pp. 266, 
267) on the relations of this group, the matter might have 
seemed to him a little clearer. Mr. Sclater’s belief is 
that, since these birds “ present many points of alliance 
with” the Sturnid@, z.e. the true Starlings of the Old 
World, it would therefore be better “to place them afer 
the Fringillide.” Now the multitude of “points of 
alliance” is perhaps rather apparent than real, and though 
Prof. Parker considers (doc. cit.) that the /ceterxid@ and 
Sturnide cannot be “ considered to be unrelated,” he also 
shows that the former have nearer allies in their own part 
of the world. But this by the way. It is more important 
to inquire in what sense the word “a/ver” is used by Mr. 
Sclater in the passage just quoted. We may be sure that 
he does not entertain a notion of the possibility of 
deploying any part even of the animal kingdom in a 
straight line, as was of old time thought not only 
possible but expedient; for such a notion would be 
completely at variance with the doctrine of evolution, 
which he of course holds. If the word “after” is 
merely intended to refer to the purely arbitrary arrange- 
ment followed, or to be followed, in the “ Catalogue,” it 
signifies nothing, and we have no cause to complain. 
Again, if “after” is to be understood in the sense of 
“inferior to,” then we should wholly agree with him. But 
if the procession of forms be contrariwise arranged—- 
there being no evidence in this volume to show whether 
this is so or not—and by the word “after” a later and 
consequently higher or more specialised type be indi- 
cated, then we should, with all deference, beg leave to 
demur to the supposition. Whatever be the rank and 
proper place among the true Passeres of the /ringtllide— 
and Dr. Stejneger has lately propounded the view that 
theirs is the highest—the fact should always be remem- 
bered that the so-called /77ugz//id@ of many systematists 
certainly contain at least two groups, which in their 
more advanced stages can, so Prof. Parker tells us, be 
always discriminated. These two groups are the Finches 
proper and the Buntings, which last several taxonomers 
have recognised as forming a family, Emderizide, equal 
in value to the restricted Fringiliide. Now Prof. Parker 
has shown that jit is to the Ayderizide rather than to 
these Fyréugillide that the /cteride are allied, and it 
therefore becomes important to determine the limits of 
the Emberizide, which, owing to the want of anatomical 
or morphological research, is admittedly hitherto a matter 
of guesswork. In regard to those members. of the 
former which belong to the Cld World, or are common 
to it and to the New World, no difficulty has as yet pre- 
sented itself. It is in the New World alone that the 
doubtful forms exist ; but even of some genera peculiarly 
American—P/rygilus, for example, as proved by Prof. 
Parker—indication is not wanting ; and if we might hazard 
a supposition on the subject, it would seem on several 
grounds more likely that a closer alliance should be shown 
to exist between the /cfexide and the Emdbertzide@ than 
between the latter and the true /7ingzllide. 
From what has been submitted in the foregoing sen- 
tences, those who can “read between the lines” may 
perceive that underneath the points just touched upon is 
a question of much greater significance than is ordinarily 
presented by matters of mere taxonomy —especially of the 
taxonomy of a group of birds so homogeneous as are the 
Passeres. tis undeniable that the American forms of 
this multitudinous and confessedly highest group of birds 
(with the exception of those which, being so closely re- 
lated to the Old-World forms may be not unreasonably 
supposed to be their derivatives) show a great preponder- 
ance of the weaker and, morphologically speaking, lower 
types. It isin the New World, and especially in South 
America, that we find all the Zracheophone and a major- 
ity of the different groups of O/igomyodi.!. We can hardly 
doubt that these are as nearly autochthonous as any 
groups which now exist; that is to say, they had their 
origin on land which is now represented by the American 
continent. Though analogy is often a deceitful guide, it 
does not seem irrational to urge the same of the Osczmes. 
Among them it is certain that not one of the three 
families which different systematists have selected for 
the post of leader is strongly represented in the New 
World—two of them, the Corvide and Fringillide (if we 
exclude the presumed Eyzberizid@), very poorly indeed ; 
while the remaining family, Zwrdéd@, cannot number, 
even at a very high estimate, one-third of its members as 
American. The meaning of these considerations will 
become plainer if we substitute for the expression 
“weaker and lower types” its justifiably equivalent 
rendering, that of “older and more generalised types.” 
Then we shall see the important signification cf the 
alliance we have supposed to exist between the Jcterzde 
and the Evderizide ; and, moreover, a reasonable means 
of accounting for the remoter relationship, recognised by 
Mr. Sclater (Introd., p. viii.), between the Zazagride and 
the Fringillide on the one hand, and the Cwred¢d@ and 
Mniotiltide on the other, is provided. This result, we 
trust, will serve to excuse these remarks, which might 
otherwise appear to be irrelevant; and, speculative as 
1 To attempt here to account for the distribution of the non-American 
families of this group—Pittide, Philepittida, Eurylemide, and Acanthe- 
sittide—would lead us far beyond the limits of our present subject. 
