Abstract
II. THE second part of vol. ii. is taxonomic and systematic. The author criticizes and tests the taxonomic value of the numerous characters of all the organic systems; each paragraph forms therefore a condensed résumé of our present knowledge of the various organs, with especial reference to those parts which proved to be of more than ordinary taxonomic importance. The question if an organ is of taxonomic value at all does not depend upon the presence or absence of the organ itself, but upon what it is like. Hence the weakness of those systems which have been based upon positive and negative characters only; even Garrod failed, since he took for his guidance not quality, but merely quantity. Those organic characters are preferable which exhibit a certain amount of differentiation, but which at the same time do not vary much within the limits of smaller groups of birds. Through combination of a considerable number of such characters, to be taken from organs between which there can be but little correlation, we have the best chance of arriving at a sound system. But of such characters there are, unfortunately, few.
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GADOW, H. The Morphology of Birds 1 . Nature 39, 177–181 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/039177a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/039177a0