AVES, 
43 
AYES - 
BY 
Alfred Newton, M.A., F.L.S., etc. 
Though exceeding in bulk that of its predecessors, the ornitho- 
logical literature of 1867 seems somewhat to fall off as regards 
special results. Nevertheless the past year has produced Prof. 
Huxley's remarkable attempt to construct a systematic arrange- 
ment of Birds based on firm, because really philosophical 
grounds; and the value of this scheme cannot be overrated. If 
it does not at once set forth a classification entirely satisfactory, 
it is at least a vast stride in the direction of one. The effects 
on ornithology of Mr. Laj^ard's long-expected ^ Birds of South 
Africa ' are likely, especially in the country to which it refers, 
to be very considerable, though it has not been elaborated with 
the amount of care which the difficulties of the subject required. 
On the other hand, in the work of Dr. Hartlaub and Mr. Einsch 
on the ornithology of Central Polynesia everything which lite- 
rary skill and profound knowledge can supply is furnished ; 
but, from the nature of the case, it will hardly be the starting- 
point of a new school of ornithologists, as may reasonably be 
expected of Mr. Layard's volume. The first portion of Mr. 
Finsch's monograph of Parrots is a model both of conception 
and execution ; while the completion of Mr. Eyton's ^ Osteologia 
Avium,' the commencement of Prof. Alphonse Milne-Edwards's 
^ Oiseaux Fossiles,' and the publication of Mr. Sclater's edition 
of Nitzsch’s ' Pterylography ' mark the year as one of great 
importance as regards the generalities of ornithology. As be- 
fore, we have to acknowledge the receipt of much valuable help 
from our fellow workers in almost all countries, who have 
thereby rendered our ^ Record ' far more complete than it would 
otherwise have been; and we have included in it many notices 
properly belonging to previous years, which, from one cause or 
another, have hitherto been overlooked. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
Hartlaub, Gustav. Bericht iiber die Leistungen in der Natur- 
geschichte der Vogel wahrend des Jahres 1866. Archiv 
fUr Naturg. Jahrg. xxxiii. Band ii. pp. 32. Berlin : 1867. 
