4.04. Mr. P. L. Sclater on the present 
are primarily divisible, as shown by Prof. Huxley*, into three 
families, which I have termed Falconide, Cathartidee, and 
Serpentariide. Garrod goes much further than Prof. Huxley 
in distinguishing the two latter groups from the formert. 
The Cathartidz he holds to be much more nearly allied to the 
Storks than to the Falconide, and Serpentarius (sive Gypo- 
geranus) he places, along with Cariama, among the Bustards. 
These two forms come in therefore in quite different parts of 
his “Systema.” I confess I am not quite able to go so far as 
this, though I freely allow that the Cathartide (as already 
pointed out by Nitzsch, Pterylogr. p.50) are in many respects 
very different from the rest of the Accipitres, and that the 
resemblance of Serpentarius and Cariama is most remarkable. 
But on the latter point Burmeister {, no mean authority, has 
come to quite an opposite conclusion to Garrod. At any 
rate I see no justification for the course Mr. Sharpe has 
adopted (without stating any reasons) of placing Carzama 
among the Accipitres, still less for treating it as merely a 
genus of the subfamily Polyborine! .. _ 
8. STEGANOPODES. 
Although it is very easy to point out the defects in the 
arrangement of the remaining orders of birds (the Gallinz, 
Grallatores, and Natatores) adopted by Cuvier and his dis- 
ciples, it is by no means easy to suggest a better one. Let 
us first consider some of the weak points of the ordinary 
system. In the first place it is evident that the “digiti 
palmati,’” by which the Natatores are ordinarily character- 
ized §, is a very slight and superficial character, and one of 
which no trace is to be found in the osteology. No one will 
now-a-days deny that the Gulls (Gavie), though their feet are 
webbed, are so intimately allied to the Waders (Limicole) 
that it is most unnatural to put the two groups far apart. 
* P.Z.S. 1867, p. 462. + Ibid. 1874, p. 117. 
{ “Beitrage z. Naturgeschichte des Seriema,” Abh. nat. Ges. z. Halle, 
il 05 JUL, 
§ Even by Sundevall, who says “Nullo alio charactere opus est!” 
(Tentamen, p. 134). 
