INTRODUCTION. 
xxv 
consequently tend to group them in the rotation which they take in this work. The same rule 
has been followed, as much as possible, in considering the order in which the various families 
composing these orders should be arranged. It will not be necessary to enter into any disqui- 
sition in this Introduction on the much-disputed subject of classification, or to explain further 
my reasons for not following the more modern systems of Professors Parker and Huxley, or, still 
better, the modification of these systems by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, as they have been 
sufficiently set forward in testifying above my desire to adopt a system best suited to the 
requirements of the local student, at the same time avoiding a total reversal of Gray’s classification. 
2nd. Plan of the Articles . — It has been thought best to define the characters of the various 
orders, families, subfamilies, genera, and species in accordance with their external charac- 
teristics, in order to simplify their comprehension to beginners. Reference is, however, made 
frequently to the sternum, a generally important, though not in some families (Scolopacidse, for 
instance) always a reliable character. 
The accompanying woodcut represents the sternum of the Malay Bittern ( Gorsachius melano- 
lofhus ), together with the bones attached to it. It has been selected as an example of a sternum 
with a single notch in the posterior margin. The various parts are named beneath. 
st, sternum ; 1c, keel of sternum ; no, notch in posterior margin ; fu, furculum ; co, coracoid bones ; sc, scapula. 
In the great division Carinatse, which comprises all living birds but the Ostrich family and its 
allies, the “ carina ” or keel is more or less deep so as to hold the powerful pectoral muscles which 
lie in the angle between it and the body of the sternum. In the latter (Ratitas), however, the keel 
is slightly developed only, the sternum being flat, inasmuch as the same development of muscle is 
not required for non-flying birds. The furculum is in most birds a single bone, but in some 
Parrots, Pigeons, and Owls consists of two separate clavicles. In some genera of the 
Steganopodes it is anchylosed to the keel, and this latter is not produced to the posterior edge 
of the sternum. 
The synonymy at the head of the articles is not supposed, by any meaus, to be complete. 
Besides local references, only those of a leading nature, as also relating to the recent writings of 
Indian ornithologists, more particularly contributors to ‘ Stray Feathers,’ have been given, as these 
