Division B. Metcarpals ankylosed1 tail con siderably shorter than body: This classification was the first important con tribution to ornithology after publication of the Origin of Species, and it is really the basis of later systems. The work of Garrod and Forbes on avian anatomy led to many changes in the relative position of certain birds and groups and increased inuncli-ely our store of hut the which they proposed have net er met with any general acceptance. relater's proposed in I ti I Ind In 1 Cli S0111' and for that reason alone failed to nn•ct any wide aeceHtaW1c. The same criticism applies to lei, successors, and the complexity of the system, proposed by RencHnow, Stejneger. Fiirbringer, Sharpe, and t:adow has militated against their general use. Indeed, it is a rather notable tact that no system that has yet been proposed has proved A very full history of the taxonomy of .,rnitholog,y may be read in the Introduction' of Newton's Dictionary of Birds (New York, IS96).
The very latest scheme of arrangement having the sanction of authority is that adopted by Evans and the editors of the Cambridge Natural History in vol. ix. of that work. (Lon don. Plot). It divides all birds. fossil and
recent. into I., Antit.toaNITHES Arell:P optyryx alone) and sab-elass II.. .NEORN IT IIES (all the remainder). The Neornithes are divided into—A, llatit(r, birds with a keel-less sternum; B, (h1(»dolca-, ratite birds, with teeth in the mandibles. set in grooves; and C. Cormnala, birds with keeled sternums. This last sub-class is considered divisible into 14 groups, as follows: I vitt h. urn it ( 1 hyornis) : Colymbi formes (loons and grebes) ; Sphenisciformes (pen guins : 'rocel 1 ri if ormes ( 'petrels ) ; formes etc.. pelivans, herons, ibises, flamingoes) ; Anseri formes ( ducks, geese, swans[ : Fa leon i (falcons, vol tures ) ; Ti i formes t t ina mons ) ; Ga 1 i formes birds, fowl. pheasants. lowetzin) Gruiformes (rails, cranes. bustards. sun-bitterns, etc.) ; Cha rad ri i formes (shore-birds, coursers, thick knees, gulls. auks, sand-grouse, pigeons) ; Cucu lifinme, (cuckoos, parrots) ; Coraeiiformes motmots. kingfishers, hornbills, hoopoes, owls, nightjars. swifts. humming-birds, trog,ons. orioles. puff-blrgls, toucans, woodpeckers. and related forms) : Passeriformes (passerine birds). The last immensely Humerus group ( see PAS SERES) is subdivided by Evans as follows: