364 M. L. D'Albertis on Birds collected during 



obtained collections and made many observations and dis- 

 coveries, for which science will always be indebted to him. 



In 1872 I paid my first visit to the island on the north 

 coast;, and was successful enough to penetrate into the interior, 

 where no white man had been before, and my exertions have 

 been largely beneficial to science. 



The track I had found was soon trodden again by Dr, A. 

 B. Meyer, in 1873, and, as every naturalist knows, with 

 splendid results. In 1875 the hunters of Mr. Bruijn and Dr. 

 Beccari visited the same localities, and still found an abundance 

 of novelties ; yet I think much more is to be discovered in 

 such a rich country ; but no doubt the north-western penin- 

 sula is the part of all the great island which is best known. 

 Only very recent explorations have been attemj)ted on the 

 south-eastern coast ; and they have been attended with more 

 or less marked results. 



In 1875 I set myself to work on that new fiekl, and pre- 

 pared to explore the land which lies at the foot of Mount 

 Yule. Without speaking of other rich collections I made 

 there, I may mention that I got about 700 skins of birds, 

 representing 186 species, of which a score were new to science, 

 and many others were for the first time met with in New 

 Guinea, while a large proportion belonged to the Australian 

 avifauna both in genera and species. In the same year other 

 explorers followed me to that new field. First, Mr. W. 

 Macleay ; a little later, the collectors employed by Mr. O. 

 Stone pushed as far as Port Moresby; and Dr. James suc- 

 ceeded me at Yule Island, where, as it is known, he lost his 

 life by the hands of the natives. Lately Mr. Goldie has 

 been at Port Moresby collecting living plants for an English 

 nursery, and has also succeeded in gathering a small collec- 

 tion of birds. 



From all these collections we begin to have an insight into 

 the fauna of the southern part of New Guinea, and materials 

 for study which I have no doubt will afibrd sufficient data to 

 show the intimate connexion between the Australian and so- 

 called Papuan fauna, as well as precious materials for the 



