INTRODUCTION 5 



out webs to the toes. They should probably be elevated to the rank of an order by 

 themselves. 



The flamingoes, or Phcenicopteri, are intermediate between anserine birds on the 

 one hand and the storks and herons on the other. Sometimes they appear as a sub- 

 order next to the swans, geese, and ducks, but according to the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union's classification they are placed in a special order of their own. 



Speaking very generally, therefore, more or less successful investigations connect 

 the duck tribe with the flamingoes, through the geese, and so rather definitely with 

 the storks and herons. Through the screamers our group may be distantly connected 

 with the rails and cranes. 



On the other end of our series of anserine birds, where as a rule the Mergansers and 

 Torrent Ducks are placed, we have to admit the presence of a gap extremely difficult 

 to bridge. In fact some authorities do not attempt to bridge this gap at all, but start 

 afresh with the birds of prey, the pigeons, or the tinamus. However, there is some 

 evidence that through the mergansers, especially the Smew, the duck tribe is con- 

 nected with the diving birds: cormorants, loons, and grebes. Forbes associated the 

 ducks with the grebes and the divers, while Eimer and Fickert, basing their conclu- 

 sions upon the phylogeny of color and color-pattern, connect the Smew with the 

 loons, and the Torrent Ducks with the grebes; but these findings may simply mean 

 parallel development without close relationship. 



Gadow regarded the ducks and their allies as the rather slightly modified descend- 

 ants of the same group of which the penguins, the pelicans, the divers, and the 

 grebes are highly specialized forms. 



Huxley, working from the arrangement of the palatal bones, placed this order at 

 the head of his desmognathous, or bridged-palate series, followed by the flamingoes, 

 the herons and their allies, and the pelicans and their allies. The rest of the desmog- 

 nathous birds, including the birds of prey, the owls, the parrots, and most of the 

 picarian birds (puff -birds, barbets, toucans, and woodpeckers), appear to belong to a 

 different series. 



Mitchell has studied our group carefully from the standpoint of the intestinal 

 tract, and thinks that the gooselike birds should be separated from the screamers. 

 He finds the Smew very peculiar and different from all other geese and ducks. 



Fiirbringer, Newton, Shufeldt, Beddard, Sclater, and Stejneger have all contrib- 

 uted to our knowledge of this subject. 



A few years ago a distinguished palaeontologist was quoted as saying that from the 

 tertiary deposits some fifteen thousand mammals and six thousand reptiles have 

 been described, but only fifteen birds ! Bird bones are more easily destroyed by time, 

 and the creatures themselves are far less likely to meet their end in caves, quick- 

 sands, and other such places, where so many mammals, fortunately for us, have been 

 preserved. Altogether, we have every reason to believe that many intermediate 



