INTRODTJCTOET REMARKS. 



The classification of birds, both in reference to the higher groups and to their subdivisons, is 

 a subject which has engaged the attention of a large number of naturalists, although until 

 within a comparatively short time there has not been any very great difference in the systems 

 adopted by the leading writers on general ornithology. The more commonly received basis has 

 been the character of the bill and the shape and general structure of the feet, as expressed in 

 the terms Raptores, Insessores, Scansores, Basores, Cursores, GraUatores, and Natatores of most 

 authors ; the Insessores again divided into Fissirostres, Tenuirostres, Dentirostres, and Coniros- 

 ires, and, according to some systems, including, also, the Scansores as a subdivision, instead of 

 that group being of higher independent rank. 



Within a few years, however, a great change has taken place in the methods of ornithological 

 classification, and most continental authorities have abandoned the old arrangement of the non- 

 rapacious land birds, as based on the shape and character of the bill, and substituted a much 

 more natural system. The principal agents in this reform have been Nitzsch, ^ Andreas Wagner, 

 Sundevall,^ Keyserling and Blasius,* J. Miiller,* Cabanis,^ Bonaparte/ Reichenbach,^ Hart- 

 laub, Burmeister,* and several other systematic writers, all contributing more or less to the 

 final result. The most important step was the discovery announced by Miiller in reference 

 to the presence or absence of certain peculiar vocal muscles, which proved the key-note to 

 an entirely new arrangement. In addition to this there has been latterly taken into 

 account the number of primary quills, (or quills on the first joint of the wing,) whether ten or 

 nine, and if ten whether the first be about as long as the second, about half as long, or very 

 rudimentary ; also the character of the feet, whether the toes be three anterior and one pos- 

 terior, or two anterior and two posterior, (and if so, whether the inner or the outer anterior 

 toe be reversible,) or four more or less anterior. Particular reference is also made to the 

 peculiarities of the scales on the legs, the position of the hind toe in relation to the plane of 

 the others, the extent of feathering on the legs, the amount of webbing between the toes, the 

 number of tail feathers, &c. 



In the following report I have followed very closely the outlines given by Cabanis, in the 

 " Ornithologische Notizen," already quoted, although obliged, in most cases, to construct the 



1 System der Pterylographie, verfasst von Herm. Burmeister. Halle, 1840. 

 ? JKonglig. • Vetensk. Akad. Handlingar, 1835 and 1843. .Stockholm. 

 3 Wirbelthiere Europas. Braunschweig, 1842. 



■* Ueber die hisher unbekannten typische Verschiedenhelten der Stimmorgane der Passerinen. Abhandl. K. Akademie 

 der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, for ISiS, 321. Berlin, 1847. 



s Ornithologische Notizen, I, II, in Wiegmann's Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, 1847. 



« Conspectus generum avium, Leyden, 1850 and 185T, and various papers since 1850, in Comptes Eendus, and elsewhere. 



'.Avium systema naturale, and Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie. 



« Systematische Uehersioht der Thiere BrasiUens ; Dritter Theil. (Vogel.) Berlin, 1856. 



lb 



