Xll PREFACE. 



soni!" A little farther on in the same excellent 

 work I find a group of shrikes, termed "Tephro- 

 domis" and another of wrens, termed "Pnoepyga." 

 One might multiply these instances ad infinitum. 

 They are doubtless thought very classical and very 

 expressive. I have still to learn why the common 

 terms of Picus, Lanius, etc., would not have served 

 the purposes of science equally as well. 



It is for these reasons that I selected the 

 arrangement and terminology of Temminck, as being, 

 I considered, on the whole, the most simple, most 

 useful, and truly scientific of any modern classifica- 

 tion. I believe that the "Manuel d' Ornithologie" 

 of Temminck will live long after the present system 

 has come to the inevitable result of creating in 

 Natural History a vast record of names, in which 

 true affinities will be sacrificed to an over-refinement 

 in forming generic groups. 



While, however, I have taken Temminck's 

 classification as my guide, I have not hesitated 

 to intercalate here and there any differently 

 arranged groups, if I thought them deserving, as 

 I have done, for instance, with the Si/Iviidce. 



I have endeavoured in the progress of the work 

 to keep as closely as possible to the European list, 

 strictly so called. It has happened in one or two 

 instances that doubtful birds have been admitted, 

 as, for instance, F. leucocephalus ; but I think it 

 is better to err on the side of even doubtful 

 authority, than to omit any bird from its just 



