Systematic list of Tasmanian birds

-In the following Systematic List, the Birds of Tasmania are dividedd into 12 orders. The object has been to supply workers in Ornithology with an idea as to the proper classification of our birds, prior to the issue of a systematic catalogue, which it is hoped will be published next year. By the term "proper" must be understood a classification that will group together such familie s as are manifestly allied to one another, and place them in that senquence which is the natural ontcome of the affinities of the genera of one family with those of another. There are, it is true, gaps to be fonud in most of the great recognised Orders which are difficult to bridge over; but, as a rule, members of one family (or sub-family) are found, by reason of their anatomy or their habits, to grade into one anothor in such a manner as to enable the systematist to group them in a natural sequence.
with the paucity of data which exists concerning the Petrels, I have not thought it advisable to subdivide this neglected family at present. I have likewise thought it better to keep the blue and white Reef Herons as one species.