340 Mr, P. L. Sclater on the present 
XXXIV.—Remarks on the present State of the Systema 
Avium. By P. L. Scuater. ¥¥ 
Ir will be generally allowed, I believe, by all ornithologists 
that the Systema Avium is not at present in a very satis- 
factory state. The Cuvierian arrangement and its modifi- 
cations have been broken down by the criticisms of modern 
inquirers; but no other system has arisen to take its place, 
or, at all events, has secured general adoption. The subject 
being, as will be universally allowed, one of the utmost im- 
portance, I have thought it possible that my brother workers 
might like to hear what my views are upon the question. 
Up to 1873, as regards general arrangements, I had ac- 
quiesced, more or less, in the modified Cuvierian system 
employed by G. R. Gray in his well-known works. I had, 
however, long before quite come to the conclusion that the 
true Passeres were the most highly developed order of birds, 
and should be placed at the head of the series, and that the 
Fissirostres and Scansores, which in Gray’s system merely 
figure as subdivisions of the Passeres, should stand as separate 
orders. I had also made up my mind that, as regards the 
subdivisions of the Passeres, Miiller’s discoveries as to the 
form of the larynx and the arrangement of its muscles could 
not be passed over. Accordingly, in the catalogue of my 
collection of American birds, published in 1862, I arranged 
the three first orders of birds (as I then considered them), to 
which my collection was restricted, as follows :— 
Ordo PASSERES. 
Sectio Oscines. 
i. Turdide. x. Vireonide. 
ii. Cinclide. xi, Lantide. 
iii, Sylviidee. xii, Ampelidee. 
iv. Paride. . xiii. Coerebide. 
v. Certhiide. xiv. Tanagridee. 
vi. Troglodytidee. xy. Fringillide. 
vil. Motacillidee. xvi. Alaudidee. 
viii. Mniotiltidee. xvil. Icteride. 
ix, Hirundinide, Xviil, Corvide. 
