112 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



gratification to him to learn that Mr. Gould has produced a 

 book which is not specially designed for the amusement of dilet- 

 tanti, but, on the contrary, is intended to be of real service 

 to the working ornithologist. The ' Handbook to the Birds of 

 Australia'*, the publication of which we announced some 

 months ago (Ibis, 1865, p. 239), has recently appeared; and 

 we do not hesitate to declare that it is one of the most useful as 

 well as one of the most important works on ornithology that 

 has seen the light during the past year. It is most useful, since 

 the bulk, to say nothing of the expense, of his previous labour 

 on the same subject, the magnificent ' Birds of Australia,' places 

 it out of the reach of most private persons ; and it is most im- 

 portant, because this very facility of using it is sure to give 

 a powerful impulse to the study of ornithology among the 

 flourishing communities who inhabit the southern outliers of the 

 British empire. 



To review this book would be impossible for us at present ; 

 but, should time and space allow, we will return to its further 

 consideration. Mr. Gould has, as it seems to us, very fairly 

 fulfilled our words of promise to which we have but just re- 

 ferred. We owe him our thanks, especially for carrying out 

 rigidly the law of priority in nomenclature ; and herein he sets 

 a good example to many of our cotemporaries ; for he is quite 

 willing to disregard names conferred even by himself when con- 

 vinced that they are but synonyms of those previously applied to 

 the same species by other writers. We must, however, state that in 

 some respects Mr. Gould fails to meet the requirements of science 

 at the present day. In the work we are noticing he creates a 

 not inconsiderable number of new genera, and this without 

 defining their limits. The mania for genus-making, now un- 

 fortunately so prevalent, appears to us, more likely than any- 

 thing else, to put a check upon future biological investigations. 

 But hitherto we believe that the worst offenders in this respect 

 have usually been accustomed to give some rational definition 

 of the new groups they propose to establish. Our author, we 



* Handbook to the Birds of Australia. By John Gould, F.R.S., &c. 

 London : published by the author, 26 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square. 

 1865. 2 vols. Royal 8vo. 



