( l!*-! ) 



LIST OF BIRDS COLLECTED IN NORTH-WESTERN AUS- 

 TRALIA AND ARNHEM-LAND BY MR. J. T. TUNNEY. 



BY ERNST HARTERT, Ph.D. 



DI'IUNU tlie years 1901 to 19n3 Mr. J. T. Tunney collected luainmals !uid birds 

 in the uortb-westerii parts of West Australia and Aridieiii Land, the northern 

 l)ortiou of wliat is somewhat iucoiigruously called " Northern Territory of South 

 Australia." 



All these districts, esjiecially the latter, belong to the less kuown ones of 

 Australia, aud therefore Mr. Tiinuey's collections increase our knowledge to some 

 extent. He even discovered a few new forms, in addition to sncb exceedingly 

 rare birds as Ptiliiiopus ciiwta alligator and Pctrophassa nijipetinis Collett, the 

 beautiful Pitta iris, etc., etc. 



The Tring Museum is much indebted to Dr. Bernard AVoodward, the curator 

 of the Perth Museum, Western Australia, who arranged the expedition, and to 

 the zeal and industry of Mr. Tunney. 



During the work on these birds I came across several open questions which 

 can only be answered by our ornithological friends in Australia, and we hope that 

 they will soon do so. Many collectors are so fond of egg- collecting that they 

 neglect the collecting of birds, even in countries which are quite insulticiently 

 kuown. The many problems still unsolved with regard to species and subspecies 

 show that this is a great mistake. 



1 have employed trinomials for forms which agree with others in their main 

 features and at the same time represent them geographically, but there are doubtless 

 more birds which must eventually bear three names ; to decide finally about all 

 cases in which trinomials may be used means a thorough study of all Australian 

 birds and their allies. Mr. Campbell, in his admirable book cm the nests and eggs 

 of Australian birds, has sometimes recognised such geograjihical representatives or 

 subspecies, but Australian ornithologists have not yet generally advanced sufficiently 

 to thoroughly study and distinguish the local forms (subspecies) of birds, and to use 

 the eminently i)ractical and short method of trinomial nomenclature. 1 huj)e they 

 will not only follow my lead, but employ trinomials even more frequently than 1 

 have done in this short and merely informal article. My greetings to our ornitho- 

 logical brethren in Australia — to those I know and to those I hope to know in future ! 



A comjilete set of the birds here enumerated is in the Rothschild Museum at 

 Tring, a second one in the Perth Museum, Western Australia, and some have lieen 

 presented to the British Museum (Natural History), South Kensington, Loudon. 



1. Dromaeus novaehollandiae (Lath.) (? subsp.). 



Gtgiiuriiia iionicliiilliiiiiliiir Latham, fiid. Oni. ii. p. 1)65 (1790). 



2 (JcJ, 1 ?, -Strelly Hiver, N.W. Australia, 1, 4. i.\. VMl (Nos. U. '^30, 231, 

 232). 



1 ?, .Shaw Hiver, N.W. Australia, 27. viii. 19U1 (No. R. 22'j). 

 1 pull. Mary River, Northern Territory, 14. i.\. 1902 (No. 929). 



