Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/47

Rh work it was pointed out that the juvenile plumage of the "10-primaried" Passeres seemed to consist of five types. "In the first the nestling resembles the adult female; in the second the nestling resembles the adult female but is more brightly coloured and generally suffused with yellow; in the third the nestling is cross-barred; in the fourth it is streaked; in the fifth and last mottled or squamated."

These divisions of the Passeres seem to be of great importance and have been adopted in this edition with but very minor modifications.

The whole system of classification here accepted is merely provisional and does not, and cannot, pretend to be final, but it is hoped that it will provide a sound basis upon which future Ornithologists can work. No classification will be found upon which there is universal agreement. Many Ornithologists hold that, whilst it is sound science to split species ad infinitum, it is equally unscientific to use the same arguments for splitting genera and families. I have considered classification purely as a means to an end—i.e. to enable the student to recognize any bird whose name and position he desires to ascertain. If "lumping" will assist him in this, I have amalgamated genera and families; but if lumping, by creating huge, unwieldy families, will lead to his confusion, I have split them so as to render his work easier and quicker. Each Order will be dealt with in turn as it is reached in the succeeding volumes.