510 , THE ZOOLOGIST. 
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 
The Structure and Classification of Birds. By Frank E. 
Brepparp, M.A., F.R.S. Longmans, Green & Co. 
THERE is an ornithology of the field—certainly the earliest 
form of the study, as proved by the traditions and languages of 
primitive races; a museum ornithology, which is the parent of 
most of our avian literature; and an anatomical ornithology, 
of which many of us have heard too little and studied less. This 
volume comes in the fulness of time; it supplies a real want to 
the general zoologist, as well as to the special ornithologist, and 
is a creation of the Prosector’s department attached to the 
Gardens of our Zoological Society. To the late Prof. Garrod 
the inception of the work appears to be due—his successor, the 
late Mr. W. A. Forbes, did not live to carry it out as he intended ; 
the third Prosector, Mr. Beddard, has now completed the task. 
In discussing the affinities of birds, and the general belief 
as to their origin from some reptile stem, Mr. Beddard reviews 
the evidence which has led some of our highest authorities to 
detect a nearer kinship with the Dinosaurs than with any other. 
group of reptiles.* Asis now fairly well known, the celebrated 
tridactyle footprints in the sandstone of the Triassic period which 
were ascribed to birds are now considered as certainly footprints 
of Dinosaurs ; but Mr. Beddard is cautious in adopting a purely 
derivative hypothesis. As he writes :—‘‘ Still, with so specialized 
a form as Archeopteryx certainly was, and as Laopteryx probably 
was in the Jura, it would not be surprising to meet with genuine 
avian remains in the Trias. But even then there are undoubt- 
edly Dinosaurs belonging to that period, so that the question of 
relationship would resolve itself into a common origin, not a 
derivation of birds from Dinosaurs.” Of the relation between 
* Prof. Marsh’s Memoir on the ‘‘ Dinosaurs of North America” was 
noticed in our last volume (1897, p. 92). 
