42 Reviews. [ist^T.iy 



the tenth edition (1758), -as required by the laws of the Inter- 

 national Zoological Congresses. The " Hand-list " was, never- 

 theless, gratefully accepted by AustraHan ornithologists, as it 

 was based on Bowdler Sharpe's " Hand-list of Birds," and was a 

 distinct advance on Hall's " Key,"* comprising 883 species as 

 compared with Hall's 816. The " Hand-Ust," however, included 

 the species found on Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. 



This " Hand-list " did not retain its usefulness for Mathews's 

 purposes for any lengthy period, and upon completion of»the first 

 volume of' his magmim opus he published " A Reference-listf to the 

 Birds of Austraha," following the style of the " Check-list " of 

 the American Ornithological Union. Whereas the " Hand-list " 

 afforded no indication of the relationship of any one species to 

 another, the " Reference-list " distinguished what Mathews 

 regarded as sub-species by the adoption of the trinomial system 

 in all cases where varieties were listed. Where there were no 

 recorded sub-species the species name was given in binomial form. 

 The inclusion of his numerous sub-species increased the total 

 number of species hsted to 1,451, exclusive of the birds of Lord 

 Howe and Norfolk Islands, which were separately Hsted in 

 accordance with my proposal that the birds of these islands should 

 be included in the " Phillipian " sub-region. J 



The printing ink of the " Reference-list " had hardly dried 

 before Mathews pubhshed " A List of the Birds of Australia " 

 (November, 1913) as a "logical sequence" to the "Reference- 

 list." The introduction to this " List," however, shows that its 

 puljhcation was largely influenced by the appearance of the 

 " Official Check-hst " prepared by the Committee of the Royal 

 Australasian Ornithologists' Union. § The Rep(jrt of the Com- 

 mittee was severely criticised, and the only part of this report in 

 respect of which he expressed approval was my suggestion that 

 " the inclusion of all described sub-species under the dominant 

 species-number would enable the general collector to confine 

 himself to dominants only." The " List " was prepared under 

 this suggestion : — " Every sub-species at present recognizable is 

 admitted, but they are grouped under the oldest name which 

 appears as a binomial for the species-name, and is placed in 

 heavier type." The number of species was thus contracted to 

 663, but the sub-species numbered nearly 1,000 ! The birds of 

 Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands were again separately listed under 

 the Phillipian sub-reigon. 



Valuable as this " List " undoubtedly was, as a further guide 

 to the relationship of certain sub-species, its usefulness became 

 gradually discounted by the frequent alterations and emendations 

 appearing from time to time in the pages of the Austral Avian 

 Record, a journal edited by Mathews and " issued in connection 



* " A Key to the Birds of Australia," Robert Hall, 2n(l ed., 1906. 

 t Novitatcs Zoologicee, vol. xviii., Jamiarj^ 1912. 

 1" The Emu, vol. xi., p. 58, July, 191 1. 

 § Id., vol. xii., January, 191 3. 



