1921.] 
Reviews and Abstracts. 
307 
Avian Taxonomy, by Gregory M. Mathews and Tom Iredale. Austral 
Avian Record , vol. 4, p. 29, 1920. 
In this paper the authors propose a new classification of Recent species 
of birds, and give a list of the families and higher groups. Former 
attempts at classification are referred to, especially those of Stejneger, 
Sharpe, and Shufeldt. The present authors claim their essay as “ an 
attempt to deal broadly with the subject from a knowledge of the birds 
themselves, due consideration being given to the anatomy and osteology.” 
The class Aves is divided into three subclasses, comprising twenty-nine 
orders, which are recognized as groups of little value in comparison with 
mammalian or reptilian orders. The orders are again subdivided into 
numerous suborders, superfamilies, and 223 families. 
The division of birds into Carinatae and Ratitae is considered indefen¬ 
sible, while the three subclasses, Dromaeornithes, Impennes, and Euornithes, 
are accepted as a reasonable compromise. 
Dromaeornithes includes the orders Struthiones, Rheae, and Casuarii 
only, and of these the authors anticipate, at a later stage, dispersal among 
the Euornithes. Apteryges and Tinami, which usually find a place in this 
subclass, are placed by Mathews and Iredale among the Euornithes, next 
to Ralli. 
The subclass Impennes includes only the order Sphenisci, or penguins, 
which are considered to differ in toto from all existing birds. 
The remaining existing birds are placed in the subclass Euornithes, 
divided into the following twenty-five orders : Procellariae (petrels, alba¬ 
trosses), Fregati (frigate-bird), Pelicani (shags, gannets), Lari (tropic-bird, 
gulls, terns, skuas, plovers, divers), Psophii, Ralli (rails, wekas, grebes), 
Apteryges (kiwi), Tinami, Galli (quail), Syrrhaptes, Columbae (pigeons), 
Anates (ducks), Phoenicopteri, Herodiones (herons, ibis), Falcones (hawks), 
Striges (owls), Psittaci (parrots), Cuculi (cuckoos), Coraciae, Halcyones 
(kingfishers), Pici, Trogoni, Macrochires (swifts), Menurae, Passeres (perch¬ 
ing birds). 
Notable features in this classification are (1) the splitting-up of Stegano- 
podes by placing Fregatidae in a separate order and uniting Phaethonidae 
with the Lari; (2) the grebes and divers are divided, the former being 
included in the Ralli and the latter in the Lari; (3) Apteryges is considered 
a very distinct group, of Rail me affinity; (4) the Tinami are stated to have 
Galline and Ralline relations and, like the Apteryges, cannot be placed 
near the Ratitae. 
Some remarks of interest on the relative value of the groups into which 
birds are' divided are made when dealing with the “ Pico-Passerines,” or 
last seven orders. Together they are considered scarcely equal in value 
to one of the preceding orders, and the order Passeres is given the rank of 
family by ornithologists attempting logically to subdivide birds into groups 
of equal value. Mathews and Iredale accept eighty families in this order. 
Altogether the tendency of systematists at the present day is to subdivide 
groups as their study becomes more intensive, and this has resulted in the 
multiplication of families instead of merely dividing them and giving names 
of lower rank to the divisions. Thus each new classification usually con¬ 
tains more family names than the one preceding it. The present list well 
illustrates this, and in this- respect is similar to the other published work 
of Mathews and Iredale. W. R. B. 0. 
