^'"','r2^^'] Revieivs. 43 



with the Austral Avian Museum, Watford, Herts., England." It 

 was in this journal * that Mathews commenced to split the genera 

 Menitni, Mimvca, Pdroica, Pachyrephala, Artamiis, Malimis, and 

 others— a feature which marked the " List," and, as subsequent 

 events go far to prove, was of doubtful utihty. 



I have recently had the pleasure of perusing Matliews's " Check- 

 list of the Birds of Austraha," published on i6th February, 1920, 

 as Supplement No. I. to his folio work. This " Check-hst " 

 contains the Orders Can 11 ant formes to Meniiri formes, and numbers 

 :; 34 distinct species. In the introduction Mathews says : — " All 

 sub-species are grouped upon a binomial species heading, as there 

 can be no doubt that lists prepared in this way will be more useful 

 to the general worker. The first-named species is given in heavier 

 type, but this must not be taken to indicate that that is the only 

 sub-species I recognize. The number of sub-species accepted 

 must always be a variable one, according to the material avail- 

 able and to a certain extent upon the personal idiosyncrasy of the 

 worker, even if such be quite unprejudiced in the matter." 



While the 1013 " List " assigned trinomials to all the sub-species 

 grouped under rach species (to which I applied the term 

 " dominant " in my note to the R.A.O.U. " Check-hst "), the 1920 

 " Check-list " recognizes the author's right to an exact quotat- 

 tion of his name, and thus the sub-species are hsted in binomial 

 or trinomial form as originally described. This arrangevnent of 

 sub-species is a long step in the direction of sinking all such 

 varieties in the comparative oblivion of synonymy. 



The introduction also contains a brief defence of " genus- 

 splitting," with a comparison between the author's efforts in 

 this direction with the " B.O.U. List " for 1915. 



In a most useful Appendix Mathews lists the casual visitors, 

 the occurrence of which has been recorded less than three times. 

 This Appendix is prefaced" by the following : — " In dividing the work 

 up like this I have put in the main list all the birds that can 

 properly be called Austrahan, and in the Appendix all those that 

 so far are only recorded as visitors." With regard to some of 

 these " visitors " one cannot help thinking that their exclusion 

 from the main list is a mistake, as their breeding-places are so 

 near to the Australian coast, and their feeding range is so ex- 

 tensive, that the paucity of records must be largely due to the 

 fact that they have been accepted as Australian and their 

 occurrence not stressed by observers. I refer particularly to 

 Fregetta tropica, F. tuhulata, Procellaria parkinsoni, Priofinus 

 cinereus, Pterodroma melanopus, and Phochelria fiisca. 



This " Check-list," th,ough the latest, will probably not be tlie 

 last of Mathews's lists. The second volume will, no doubt, be 

 constructed on similar lines to the first, but I live in li,opi' that 

 the completed work will be followed by a final crowning work in 

 which the sub-speci(,'s will be listed as geographical varieties of 



* Thr Austral Avian Record, vol. i., No. 5, DcccnilKT, 19 12. 



