

NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE 



Vol. XVIII. JANUARY, 1912. No. 3. 



A liEEEllENCE-LIST TO THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



By 



GREGORY M. MATHEWS. 



A.S a sniiplcmeiit to the Eiim, vol. vii., January 190b, I puljlished my 

 HaiidUxt of the Birds of Atitstralasia, a necessary preliminary to the 

 preparation of my Birds of Australia, the first volume of which I have now 

 completed. That Handlist was based on the Handlist of Birds by Dr. R. Rowdier 

 Sharpe, and was professedly imperfect, especially as regards our knowledge of the 

 geographical distribution of species. The nomenclature was in so far at fault, 

 as the starting-point was Liuu(5's ed. xii., 1766, instead of Linne's ed. x., IToS, as 

 required by the Laws of the International Zoological (.Congresses, now universally 

 accepted by all zoologists. 



It was consequently imperative that my Handlist should be corrected, and I 

 have been employed ever since its publication in making alterations. The majority 

 of these have been noted, and full reasons given in two articles published in this 

 periodical (vol. xvii. pp. 492-.503 ; xviii. pp. 1-22). Now, having carefully 

 investigated the status of all the names accepted, I found that my Hundlist had 

 become almost valueless as showing the names to be used for Australian birds, 

 and 1 therefore resolved to prepare for my own use a corrected list with the 

 localities from which I had specimens. Upon undertaking this task I almost 

 at once saw that it wonld be futile to confine myself to such a project, and 

 thereupon embarked upon the more ambitious one of producing a Reference- List 

 of the Birds of Australia, such as would reflect the knowledge of the Australian 

 Avifauna right down to date. I determined to attempt a List after the style of 

 the Check-list of the American Ornithological Union, giving the correct name 

 of the species, or subspecies, the vernacular name, the original reference to the 

 description, the type-locality, and the range. The immensity of my task was only 

 impressed upon me when I commenced the portion giving the distribution. 



Upon sorting out my collection to deline the localities, I was astonished to 

 find that many easily defined subspecies were being confused simply through lack 

 of specimens for comparison. Commencing by describing the most striking ones, 

 I was soon compelled to work systematically through my collection, describing 

 the subspecies therein, and confirming my conclusions by the examination of the 

 material in the British Museum, and the notes I have at various times taken 

 from the collections loaned me by my valued correspondents throughout Australia. 

 Before proceeding further, I may state that 1 have personally handled over 

 3U,IM)0 skins of Australian birds in the preparation of this List, which woald 

 give, on the total of 8s3 species and subspecies admitted in my Handlist, an 

 average of 34 of each kind. This will show that the present List has not been 

 compiled without just appreciation of the facts as 1 read them from the skins 



