370 The American Natw 



.Ma; 



memoir along similar lines, and one has but to turn to the 

 essays and volumes of Newton, Gadow, Beddard, T. J. Parker, 

 Sharpe and many others to appreciate this. But for one to 

 fully know what a deal was done during the nine years I speak 

 of, it is but necessary to read the enthusiastic address of Fiir- 

 bringer given before the Section for the Anatomy of Birds at 

 the Second International Ornithological Congress, held at 

 Budapesth in 1891. A powerful light has been thrown upon 

 the structure and affinities of the various groups of birds, and 

 has it in any way affected the classification of the 1895 Check- 

 List of North Ameican Birds, that is, in so far as the main 

 groups are concerned ? Not in the least. Apart from the ad- 

 dition to the List of the family Cotingidx, the taxonomy of the 

 orders and families as given in 1886 are identical with the ar- 

 rangement reproposed in 1895. For example, we still find the 

 Grebes, Loons and Auks retained together in the Order Pygo- 

 podes, with the first-named separated from the last two by 

 subordinal lines ; whereas, Fiirbringer, Thompson, Sharpe, my- 

 self and others, all of whom have examined the structure of 

 these birds, have shown the affinity existing between the Grebes 

 and Loons, and that these two families are very distinct from 

 the Auks. The Auks, in fact, occupy a group by themselves, 

 and are more nearly related to the Longipennes. Fiirbringer 

 separated them very widely from the Grebes and Loons, in 

 which opinion Sharpe and others concur. That the Longi- 

 pennes and the Limicoke are akin is now generally recognized 

 by those who have studied the anatomical structure of the 

 members of the two groups, yet in the A. O. U. classification, 

 six entire Orders stand between the Gulls and the limicoline 

 assemblage. Fiirbringer makes a " Gens " Laro-Limicolte, and 

 Sharpe keeps the two groups close together. As long ago as 

 1867 Professor Huxley clearly showed the osteological agree- 

 ment between the skull of a Plover and that of a Gull. 



That the Fowls (Gallinse), Pigeons {Columbse), Raptorial 

 Birds (Accipitres), Parrots (Psittaci) and the Cuckoos (Coccyges) 

 as groups should stand in lineal series I can well believe— but 

 as Gadow, Hubert Lyman Clark, myself and others have 

 frequently pointed out, the Owls do not belong with the Acci- 



