INTEODUCTIOX. 



XXV 



consequently tend to group them in the rotation which they take in this work. The same rule 

 has been followed, as much as possible, in considering the order in which the various families 

 composing these orders should be arranged. It will not be necessary to enter into any disqui- 

 sition in this Introduction on the much-disputed subject of classification, or to explain further 

 my reasons for not following the more modern systems of Professors Parker and Huxley, or, still 

 better, the modification of these systems by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, as they have been 

 sufficiently set forward in testifying above my desire to adopt a system best suited to the 

 requirements of the local student, at the same time avoiding a total reversal of Gray's classification. 



2nd. Plan of the Articles. — It has been thought best to define the characters of the various 

 orders, families, subfamilies, genera, and species in accordance with their external charac- 

 teristics, in order to simplify their comprehension to beginners. Eeference is, however, made 

 frequently to the sternum, a generally important, though not in some families (Scolopacidse, for 

 instance) always a reliable character. 



The accompanying woodcut represents the sternum of the Malay Bittern (Gorsachius melano- 

 lophus), together with the bones attached to it. It has been selected as an example of a sternum 

 with a single notch in the posterior margin. The various parts are named beneath. 



st, sternum ; Jc, keel of sternum ; no, notch in posterior margin ; fu, fureulum ; co, coracoid bones ; sc, scapula. 



In the great division Carinatae, which comprises all living birds but the Ostrich family and its 

 allies, the " carina " or keel is more or less deep so as to hold the powerful pectoral muscles which 

 lie in the angle between it and the body of the sternum. In the latter (Eatitee), however, the keel 

 is slightly developed only, the sternum being flat, inasmuch as the same development of muscle is 

 not required for non-flying birds. The fureulum is in most birds a single bone, but in some 

 Parrots, Pigeons, and Owls consists of two separate clavicles. In some genera of the 

 Steganopodes it is anchylosed to the keel, and this latter is not produced to the posterior edge 

 of the sternum. 



The synonymy at the head of the articles is not supposed, by any means, to be complete. 

 Besides local references, only those of a leading nature, as also relating to the recent writings of 

 Indian ornithologists, more particularly contributors to ' Stray Feathers,' have been given, as these 



