Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/48

 38 ORNITHOLOGY Tli rushes pro]x?r, Dippers, Water-Chats (ITcnicunis), Bush-Chats, and (under the name of Euchlinte) the singular group commonly known as Pittas or Water-Thrushes. Phalanx 2. Xoi cmpninatiK.S Families: Pipits, Wagtail*, American Fly-catching Warblers, and Australian Diamond-birds (Pardalotus). Phalanx 3. Syh-iiformes. 17 Families: divided geographi cally (?) into two groups the Old- World forms, and those of the New. The first is further broken up into three sections (a) 4 Families with moderately long wings aud a slender bill, containing what may be called perhaps the normal Warblers, as the Willow- Wrens, Whitethroats, Sedge-birds, and others; (b) 5 Families, with short wings and a slender bill, what are often called by Indi.-m and African writers Bush-babblers (Brady ptenis, Crateropns, and others) ; (&amp;lt;) 3 Families, with a somewhat stout or blunt bill, the Thick-heads of some writers (Pachycephalus) and Titmouse Family. The second or American group comprehends 5 Families, Viieos, Cat-birds, Wrens (not, by the way, peculiar to America), and some other forms for which it is impossible to find names that will pass as English. Phalanx 4. Brachypterse. 3 Families: the short-winged Wren- Warblers, with long tails, of the Australian (Maliirus}, Indian, and Ethiopian Regions. Phalanx 5. Latirostres. 7 Families: the true Flycatchers (iluscicapa), and several others of fly-catching habits. Phalanx 6. Erachypodes.S Families : Waxwings, Orioles, Swallow- Flycatchers (Artamus), Caterpillar-catchers (Camj^haga), and Drongos (Dicrurus}. Phalanx?. Dcntirostres or Lanii formes. 2, Families : Shrikes, Puff-backed Shrikes. Phalanx 8. Subcorviformcs.l Family : Bower-birds and some others. Cohors 2. Conirostrcs. Phalanx 1. Decempcjina/as.B Families : Weaver-birds(PZoccws), Whydah-birds ( Vidua), and Hedge-Sparrows (Accentor). Phalanx 2. Amplipalatalea.2 Families : Grosbeaks, true Finches. Phalanx 3. Arctipalatales. 6 Families: Crossbills, Buntings, Rice-birds, and many hard-billed forms which are usually placed among the Tanagers. Phalanx 4. Simplicirostrcs. 4 Families : Tanagers. Cohors 3. Coliomorpha. Phalanx 1. Novompennatss. 3 Families : Crackles or American Starlings. Phalanx 2. Ifumilinarcs.! Families: True Starlings, Ox- peckers, Choughs. Phalanx 3. AUinares.% Families: Nutcrackers, Jays, Crows. Phalanx 4. Idiodactylie.5 Families : Crow-Shrikes, Birds-of- Paradise. Cohors 4. CferthiomorpTue. 3 Families : Tree-creepers, Nut hatches. Cohors 5. Cinnyrimorpha. 5 Families: Sun-birds, Honey- suckers. Cohors 6. Chdidonomorpfus. 1 Family: Swallows. The Scutelliplantarea include a much smaller number of forms, and, with the exception of the first &quot; Cohort &quot; and a few groups of the fourth and fifth, all are peculiar to America. Cohors 1. IIolaspidcsR. 2 Families: Larks, Hoopoes. Cohors 2. Endfisiiidcse. 3 Families all Neotropical: Oven-birds (Funtariui), Synallaxis, and the Piculules (Dendrocolaptes). Cohors 3. Excupidex, 4 Families: the first two separated as e, including the King-birds or Tyrants, of which twelve groups are made ; the remaining two as Syndoctylse, composed of the Todies and ilanakins. Cohors 4. Pycnnspiihie. 3 Families: Cocks-cf-the-Rock (Rupi- cold), to which the Indian genus C/dyptomcna, Eurylaemiis, and some others are supposed to be allied, the Chatterers and Fruit- Crows (Chasmorhynchua, Ccphalopterus, and others), as well as Tityra and Lijtaugiis. Cohors 5. Taxaspidete. 5 Families : the very singular Madagas car form Philepitta; the Bush-Shrikes ( Thamnophilux}, Ant-Thrushes (Formic/iritis), and Tapaculos (Ptcroptoclius) of the Neotropical Region; and the Australian Lyre-bird. &quot;We then arrive at the Second Order Volucres, which is divided into two &quot; Series.&quot; Of these the first is made to contain, under the name Zygodactyli, Cohors 1. Psittaci. 6 Families : Parrots; Cohors 2. Pici. 6 Families: Woodpeckers, Piculets (Picumnux), and Wrynecks; Cohors 3. CCCCJKJCS. 12 Families: divided into two groups (1) Altinarea, containing the Honey-Guides, Barbots, Toucans, Jaca- mars, Puff-birds, and the Madagascar genus Leptosomus ; and (2) HumUm/irex, comprising all the forms commonly known as Cucu- lidx, broken np, however, into three sections while to the second &quot; Series&quot; are referred, as Anisodactyli, Cohors 4. Ctenomorplise. 4 Families : Plantain-eaters or Toura- cous, Mouse-birds, Rollers, and tlio peculiar Madagascar forms Atelornis and Brachypteracias ; Cohors 5. Ampligulares.l Families : Trogons, Goatsuckers, and Swifts ; Cohors 6. Longilingucs or Mcllisncjie. 12 Families : Humming birds, arranged in three &quot;Series ;&quot; Cohors 7. Syndactylx. 4 Families: Bee-eaters, Motmots, King fishers, and Hornbills ; Cohors 8. Pcristcroidcsc. 3 Families : Didunculus, with the Dodo, Pigeons, and the Crowned Pigeons (Goum] separated from the last. The Dasypsedes of Sundevall are separated into six &quot; Orders &quot; ; but these will occupy us but a short while. The first of them, Accijritres, comprehending all the Birds- ! of-Prey, were separated into 4 &quot; Cohorts &quot; in his original work, but these were reduced in his appendix to two Nyctiiarpages or Owls with 4 Families divided into 2 series, ! and Hemeroharpages containing all the rest, and compris ing 10 Families (the last of which is the Seriema, Dicholopkus) divided into 2 groups as Rrtpaces and Saprophaffithe latter including the Vultures. Next stands the Order Gcdlinx with 4 &quot;Cohorts&quot; :(!) Tetraono- morp/tge, comprising 2 Families, the Sand-Grouse (Pteroclex) and the Grouse proper, among which the Central- American Oreophasis finds itself; (2) Phasianomorphx, with 4 Families, Pheasants, Peacocks, Turkeys, Guinea Fowls, Partridges, Quails, and Hemipodes (Turnir) ; (3) Macro- nyches, the Megapodes, with 2 Families ; (4) the Duodecim- pennatx, the Curassows and Guans, also with 2 Families ; (5) the Stntthioniformes, composed of the Tinamous ; and (G) the Sitbgrallatores with 2 Families, one consisting of the curious South-American genera T/iinoco?&quot;iis and Attagis and the other of the Sheathbill (Chionis). The Fifth Order (the third of the Dasypxdes) is formed by the Grallatores, divided into 2 &quot;series&quot; (1) Altinares, consisting of 2 &quot; Cohorts,&quot; Herodii with 1 Family, the Herons, and Pelanji with 4 Families, Spoonbills, Ibises, Storks, and the Umbre (Scopuft), with Balxniceps ; (2) Humilinares, also consisting of 2 &quot; Cohorts,&quot; Limicolae with 2 Families, Sandpipers and Snipes, Stilts and Avocets, and Cursores with 8 Families, including Plovers, Bustards, Cranes, Rails, and all the other &quot;Waders.&quot; The Sixth Order, Natdtores, consists of all the Birds that habitually swim and a few that do not, containing G Cohorts : Longipennes and Pygopodes with 3 Families each ; Toti- palmatse, with 1 Family ; Tulnnnres with 3 Families ; Impennes with 1 Family, Penguins ; and Lamellirostres with 2 Families, Flamingoes and Ducks. The Seventh Order, Process, is divided into 2 Cohorts Veri with 2 Families, Ostriches and Emeus ; and Subnobiles, consisting of the genus Aptcryx. The Eighth Order is formed by the Snururce. Such then is Sundevall s perfected system, which has in various quarters been so much praised, and has been partially recognized by so many succeeding writers, that it would have been impossible to pass it over here, though the present writer is confident that the best-informed ornithologists will agree with him in thinking that the com pilation of the above abstract has been but so much waste of time, and its insertion here but so much waste of space. Without, however, some such abstract its shortcomings could not be made apparent, and it will be seen to what little purpose so many able men have laboured if arrangement and grouping so manifestly artificial the latter often of forms possessing no real affinity can pass as a natural method. We should be too sanguine to hope that it may be the last of its kind, yet any one accustomed to look deeper than the surface must see its numerous defects, and almost every one, whether so accustomed or not, ought by its means to be brought to the conclusion that, when a man of Sundevall s knowledge and experience