^1 [Vol. XXXV. 



give the subject of the discussion this evening the attention 

 •which I had hoped. I have^ however, certain ideas on the 

 subject which may help to furnish material for debate. 



I certainly agree that coloration is an extremely important 

 factor in classification, and one that has been far too much 

 neglected. But I think we are in danger of making too 

 much of it. There are other things to be considered besides 

 coloration. So far we have been rather inclined to regard 

 a bird as a creature with two legs, a beak, and some feathers • 

 but lately other facts — i. e. the structural characters — have 

 been given the weight to which they are entitled. Colour 

 alone ought not to be taken as the factor for the deter- 

 mination of generic characters. We ought to begin with 

 the deeper-seated characters. It is very patent that colour 

 is a factor which can change much more easily than the 

 deeper-seated structures. 



Numbers of birds, j udged by this colour-standard, in the 

 course of a lifetime present changes more marked than many 

 which are regarded as of generic value. The summer and 

 winter plumage and differences between male and female 

 afford cases in point. Such cases I mention merely to show 

 how superficial a character is colour, as compared with 

 the deeper-seated structures. Attention should be paid 

 not merely to the skeleton but to all sorts of other 

 characters that anatomy furnishes, as well as colour, if we 

 are to evolve any scheme of classification worth having. 



The classification of birds depends on the point of view 

 we take or what ideas we want to express. If classification 

 is merely to be a matter of convenience to facilitate the 

 task of identifying birds, then the matter of their inter- 

 relationship may be ignored. If, on the other hand, our 

 classification is to express the genetic relationship between 

 different groups, then Ave have to follow sometimes colour, 

 sometimes some other character. Colour itself can no more 

 be regarded as a safe and universal guide to classification 

 than the shape of the beak or the " scaling ^^ of the legs 

 and toes. One has to take all sorts of characters into 

 consideration. And for this reason, birds, like all other 



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