CLASSIFICATION OF BIEDS. 



Limicolas. 



Neither the exact limits of the Limicolee, nor the precise number of Families into 

 which this Suborder may be most conveniently divided, can be regarded as in any degree 

 definitely settled ; but the foregoing families may be provisionally included in it. 



Following up the simile of a great mountain-range like the Himalayas, we find that 

 the outlying range of Limicolse is a miniature model of the grand whole. It, too, has a 

 great plateau, surrounded by little peaks or spurs, but some lead down to lower ranges 



- ._ _P/i corlOob 



whilst others lead up to higher mountains. Thus, to drop the metaphor, the Pteroclidae allies of the 

 form a stepping-stone to the Pigeons, the Turnicidse and Thinocoridse to the Game Birds, 

 the Dromadidse to both the Gulls and the more distant Herons, whilst the Chionidse form a 

 second link to the Gulls, the Parridse to the Rails, and the Otididse to the Cranes. To go 

 back to the simile of the mountain-range, we find that they all lead up to the great central 

 plateau, blending with it so naturally that it is impossible to draw an artificial hard-and-fast 

 line where one begins and the other ends, and leaving here and there a few isolated peaks 

 so exactly between two outlying spurs that it is a toss-up to which they belong. But 

 in spite of this impossibility of determining the precise limits of each Family or Order, 

 or to lay down with mathematical accuracy the line where two may march together, the 

 broad features of the landscape are unmistakable. It is not necessary that classification 

 be always absolutely definite to be scientific, which is another word for natural. Nature 

 has drawn a sufficient number of definite lines to enable us to map out the great 

 divisions ; but it must often happen that these lines cross a species, and then it is a 

 matter of perfect indifference to which side of the line it is referred. The worst thing 

 that we can do is to act as modern ornithologists are too apt to do, to split the line 

 which Nature has drawn, and to give undue importance to the doubtful species or groups, 

 and allow them to set up a genus, or a family, or an order of their own, so that our 

 hard-and-fast line may pass between them. A line which never passes over a species 

 or a higher group is sure to be an artificial one. If there is no mystery in the land- 

 scape it cannot be true to Nature, for Mature abhors a hard-and-fast line more than she 



Principles of 

 classifica- 

 tion. 



2 " The chief relations of Hemipodius are on one side with Tinamus, on another with Syrrhaptes, and on 

 a third with the Plovers." (Huxley, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 304.) 



3 "In their myology these genera," Cursorius and Glareola, "do not differ in any essential points 

 from Thinocorus and Attagis ; and it is with these that I cannot help thinking that they are most allied." 

 (Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1877, p. 418.) 



4 " The Limicoline genera Dronias and Chionis have many points of resemblance to the Laridas." 

 (Newton, ' Ornithology,' p. 45.) 



5 " It has just been proposed " (by the writer) " to re-transfer to the Limicolse one of the families, Otididse, 

 kept in it " (the Alectorides) " by Mr. Sclater." (Newton, ' Ornithology,' p. 45.) 



" The Bustards are gigantic Plovers." (Parker, ' Shoulder-girdle and Sternum,' p. 158.) 

 " As regards the position of the Parridee in the group Pluviales, it appears to me that they form 

 a well-marked family, with no very obvious relationships to any of the other families of that group, approaching, 

 however, perhaps most nearly to the Charadriidae." (Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 647.) 



