Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/59

 ORNITHOLOGY 49 Ishecl years later, wherein (Monthly Microsc. Journal, 1872, p. 217) he says, &quot; The Crow is the great sub-rational chief of the whole kingdom of the Birds ; he has the largest brain ; the most wit and wisdom ; &quot; and again, in the Zoological Society s Transactions (ix. p. 300), &quot; In all respects, physio logical, morphological, and ornithological, the Crow may be placed at the head, not only of its own great series (birds of the Crow-form), but also as the unchallenged chief of the whole of the Carinatse. &quot; It is to be supposed that the opinion so strongly expressed in the passage last cited has escaped the observation of recent systematizers ; for he would be a bold man who would venture to gainsay it. Still Prof. Parker has left untouched or only obscurely alluded to one other considera tion that has been here brought forward in opposing the claim of the Turdidx, and therefore a few words may not be out of place on that point the evidence afforded by the coloration of plumage in young and old. Now the Corvidse fulfil as completely as is possible for any group of Birds to do the obligations required by exalted rank. To the magnitude of their brain beyond that of all other Birds Prof. Parker has already testified, and it is the rule for their young at once to be clothed in a plumage which is essentially that of the adult. This plumage may lack the lustrous reflexions that are only assumed when it is necessary for the welfare of the race that the wearer should don the best apparel, but then they are speedily acquired, and the original difference between old and young is of the slightest. Moreover, this obtains even in what we may fairly consider to be the weaker forms of the Corvidse. the Pies and Jays. In one species of Corvus, and that (as might be expected) the most abundant, namely, the Rook, C. frugileyus, very interesting cases of what would seem to be explicable on the theory of Reversion occasionally though rarely occur. In them the young are more or less spotted with a lighter shade, and these exceptional cases, if rightly understood, do but confirm the rule. 1 It may be conceded that even among Oscines 2 there are some other groups or sections of 1 One of these specimens has been figured by Mr Hancock (iV. H. Trans. Xorthumb. and Durham, vi. pi. 3); see also Yarrell s British Birds, ed 4, ii. pp. 302, 303. 2 In other Orders there are many, for instance some Humming birds and Kingfishers ; but this only seems to shew the exce those Orders attained by the forms which enjoy the privilege. groups in which the transformation in appearance from youth to full age is as slight. This is so among the Paridae ; and there are a few groups in which the young r prior to the first moult, may be more brightly tinted than afterwards, as in the genera Phylloscopus and Antkus. These anomalies cannot be explained as yet, but we see that they do not extend to more than a portion, and generally a small portion, of the groups in which they occur ; whereas in the Crows the likeness between young and old is, so far as is known, common to every member of the Family. It is therefore confidently that the present writer asserts, as Prof. Parker, with far more right to speak on the subject, has already done, that at the head of the Class Aves must stand the Family Corvidse, of which Family no one will dispute the superiority of the genus Corvus, nor in that genus the pre-eminence of Corvus corax the widely-ranging Raven of the Northern Hemisphere, the Bird perhaps best known from the most ancient times, and, as it happens, that to which belongs the earliest historical association with man. There are of course innumerable points in regard to the Classification of Birds which are, and for a long time will continue to be, hypothetical as matters of opinion, but this one seems to stand a fact on the firm ground of proof. During the compilation of much of the present article the writer flattered himself with the hope that he might at its conclusion have been able to give a graphic illustration of the way in which the various groups of Birds may be conceived to be related to one another in the form of a map, such as has been so usefully furnished by several of his more gifted brethren in regard to other Classes or portions of Classes of the Animal Kingdom. This hope he has been reluctantly constrained to abandon, whether from the inherent difficulty, perhaps impossibility, of at present executing the task, or from his own want of charto- graphical skill, it is not for him to say. He may, however, be allowed to express the belief that there is no group in Animated Nature that more assuredly deserves the further attention of the highest zoological intellects than Birds ; and, looking to the perplexities which on all sides beset their scientific study, there is no department of Zoology that will better repay the application of those intellects than Ornithology. (A. N.) INDEX. .(Elian, 3, 4. Bennett, 10. Brandt, J. F., 25, 26 Claus, 42. Droste, 17. Gatke, 17. Hailing, 10, 18 Albertus Magnus, 3. Benoist, 17. 42, 45. Clusius, 4. Dubois, 17. Gaza, 3. Hartlaub, 17. Albin, 5. Bcrkenhout, 9. Bree, 17. Coiter, 4, 7. Du Bus, 13. Gentil, 17. Harvey, 7. Aldrovandus, 4. Bernini, 9. Brehm, A. E., 17. Collett, 17. Dume ril, 13, 45. Georgi, 8. Harvie-Brown, 18. Allen, 17. Berthold, 22. Brehm, C. L., 17. Collin, 17. Dunn, 18. Gerbe, 17. Hasselqvist, 8. Alston, 18. Beseke, 8. Brewer, 16. Collins, 8. Edwards, 5, 6. Gervais, 31. Hayes, 7. Altum, 17. Bewick, 10, 14, 18. Brewster, 17. Cope, 43. Elliot, 11, 16. Gesner, 3, 4. Hector, 16. Andersson, 16. Bcxon, 6. Brisson, 5, 6, 7. Cordeaux, 18. Eyton, 18, 32. Giebel, 14, 21. Heddle, 18. Aristotle, 2, 3, 15. Blainville, 8, 14, 20, Bronn, 7, 42. Con lay, 29, 35. Faber, 17. Gilins, 9. Heine, 31. Aubert, 3. 21, 32, 29. Brown, P., 7. Coues. 16, 17, 25. Fabricius, 9. Giraud, 16. Herbert, 10. Audebert, 11. Blanchard, 31, 32. Browne, Sir T., 9. Cousens, 12. Falk, 8. Gloger, 17, 21, 23. Hermann, 7. Audubon, 11, 12, 1C, Blandin, 17. Briinnich, 9. Crespon, 17. Fatio, 17. Gmelin, J. F, 7, 19. Hernandez, 4. 25, 27, 28, Blasius, G., 7. Buckley, E., 5. Cuba, 3. Feilden, 17. Gmelin, S. G., 8. Hey sham, 9. Baikie, 18. Blasius, J. IL, 9, Buckley, T. E., 18. Cuvier, 7, 8, 14, 16, Fernandez, 4. Gosse, 16. Hintz, 17. Baillon, 17. 17, 26, 28, 29, 37, Buffon, 6, 7, 36. 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, Finsch, 14, 17. Gould, 12, 13, 16. 17, Hogg, 31. Bailly. 17. 48. Buller, 16. 27, 29, 30, 32, 45. Fischer, J. B., 8. 18, 27. Holland, 3. Baird, 16. Blyth, 10, 16, 25, 27, Bureau, 17. Dallas, 27. Fischer de Wald- Grandidier, 47. Holmgren, 17. Baldamus, 9, 17. 29, 36. Burmeister, 26, 27. Darwin, 32, 33, 34, 36, heim, 15. Gravenhorst, 13. Homeyer, A. von, 17. Barraband, 11. Bocage, Barboza du, Cabanis, 16, 17, 29, 48. Fleming, 15, 18. Graves, 18. Homeyer, E. von, 17. Barrere, 5. 17 30, 31, 41, 48. D Aubenton, 6, 7, 12. Florent-Provost, 11. Gray, G. R., 14, 16. Houttuyn, 9. Barrington, 9. Bochart, 4. Caius, 3. Daudin, 7. Fraser, 12. Gray, J. E., 8, 11. Huet, 12. Barthe lemy - Lapom- Boddaert, 7. Canivet, 17. Davies, 44. Fries, 15. Gray, R., 18. Hume, 16. meraie, 17 Bolle, 17. Carus, 7, 42. Degland, 17. Friseh, 8. Griffiths, 8. Hunt, 18. Bartholini, 7. Bonaparte, 14, 16, 17, Cassin, 11, 16. Demarle, 17. Fritsch, 17. Groot, 3. Hunter, 8, 26. Bartlett, 25. 31. Catesby, 5. Denny, 26. Forbes, 28, 39, 40, Grossingw, 8. Button, 16, 44. Barton, 9. Bonnaterre, 7. Caub, 3. Derham, 5. 41, 47. Giildenstlidt, 8. Huxley, 34, 35, 36, Bartram, 9. Bontius, 4. Cetti, 9. Desmarest, 11. Ford, 16. Gunnerus, 9. 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, Bechstein, 6, 9, 17. Borggreve, 17. Chamberlain, 17. Des Murs, 13, 32. Forskal, 8. Gurney, 6, 16. 46, 47. Behn, 5. Borkhausen, 9. Chambers, 33. Dieffenbach, 16. Forster, G., 8. Haast, 16, 44. Illiger, 14, 22, 24, 25, Beilby, 10. Borlasc, 9. Charles worth, 25. Diggles, 16. Forster, J. R., 8, 9. Hiickel, 34, 43, 44. 31, 45. Bell, F. J., 29, 39. Borrichius, 7. Charleton, 4. Dillwyn, 18. Gadow, 42, 46. Hancock, 10, 18, 49. Irby, 17. Bell, T., 10. Bouteille, 17. Chesnon, 17. Donovan, 9. Garrod, 29, 39, 40, Hardwicke, 11. Jackel, 17. Belon, 4. Brandt, A., 17. Clarke, 18. Dresser, 17. 41, 47. Hardy, 17. Jacobson, 20. XVIII. -- 7