Vol. V.l D • 



1905 J Reviews. 97 



of the Australasian Ornis are better established with those of the 

 adjacent sub-regions than through other orders. 



Of the family of Drongos there is one Australasian species, Chibia 

 hracteata. Chibia is a genus which is almost purely Austro-Malayan, 

 six out of the nine known species inhabiting that sub-region. In 

 the family of Wood-Shrikes, the Magpie-Larks {Grallina) connects 

 New Guinea and Australia, as a congener — G. hruijni — of our 

 well-known bird inhabits the mountains in Papua. The Shrike- 

 Thrushes {CoUyriocincla) are almost exclusively Australasian, one — 

 C. brnnnea — only straying to New Guinea. The allied genus 

 {Pinarplestes) has, however, a wider range — from Australasia to 

 Austro-Mala3i'a and Polynesia, where seven species and sub-species 

 are found. As Australasia has only three species, the genus is 

 chiefly Polynesian. Regarding the Cuckoo-Shrikes, which are 

 mainly distributed from India to Eastern Papuasia. there are two 

 small genera, Pteropodocys and Campochcera, confined to Australasia 

 and New Guinea respectively. They are followed in the arrange- 

 ment by Graucahis, with many species strongly located in the 

 Austro-Malayan region and fairly so in Australasia. 



The genera Gerygone, Arses, M achcerorhynchiis, Microeca, Pcecilo- 

 dryas, and Malurits are all common to Australasia and Austro- 

 Malaya. Out of the many known species of the last-mentioned, all 

 are restricted to Australia save one — M. albiscapiilatus of New 

 Guinea. A characteristic feature of the Australian Ornis is the 

 scanty distribution of the Thrushes (Turdidce) within the region. 

 There are, however, three or four species of Ground-Thrushes 

 {Geocichla) in the Australasian Sub-region. It is not till we come 

 to the sub-family Ptilonorhynchince (Bower-Birds) that we meet 

 with Australian representation in the Timeliidae. Five genera of 

 these remarkable birds are Australasian, two of them being also 

 found in Papuasia, while an additional one is exclusively Papuan. 

 The Ephthianura deserves passing notice. These little Chats form 

 one of the typical groups of smaller birds highly characteristic of 

 Australia. They live upon the ground and are insectivorous, and, 

 according to Colonel Legge, have no affinity in habits and mode 

 of life to the other birds in the group in which they have been 

 placed by systematists. 



In his interesting remarks in reference to the dispersion of the 

 Tree-creepers and Nuthatches, the author comes to our Australian 

 Creeper, Climacteris, of which several species are found on the 

 continent. As C. riifa has generally been considered to be purely 

 Australian, it would be interesting to have Colonel Legge's authority 

 for the statement that it has wandered north to the Phili})pines. 

 The Meliphagidce, or honey-loving birds, taken in their natural 

 sequence, occuj)y many very instructive pages of the address. An 

 Asiatic vSwallow {Hirundo giitturalis) is mentioned as a straggler 

 to Northern Australia. The Wood-Swallows (Artamits), which are 

 a most puzzling form of birds, are almost wholly Australasian, two 

 species only having ranged outwards to Indo-Malaya and the 

 Indian and Indo-Chinese Sub-regions of the Oriental Region. In 



