^"'igi^^ 1 Alexander, New Records for South-Wesiern Australia. 27 



impossible to separate the synonymy of this bird from that of 

 Pseudoprion turtur." In the " List of the Birds of Austraha " 

 he gives the range as " Victoria," evidently not feeling sure that 

 records of this species from the other States are correct. Having 

 carefully compared my specimen with the descriptions and 

 diagrams in the " Birds of Australia," I have no hesitation in 

 assigning it to Hcteyoprion desolatiis, and I have little doubt that 

 it belongs to tlie su])-species mattingleyi, as this is stated to have 

 a narrower bill than any other sub-species, and the bill in my 

 example agrees exactly with the figure of that of mattingleyi given 

 in the " Birds of Australia." 



Rhyacophilus glareola (Linn). Wood-Sandpiper. 



There is a specimen of this species in the Museum which was 

 shot by Mr. J. T. Tunney on 2nd February, 1900, at Kelmscott, 

 which is situated on the Canning River, 16 miles south-east of 

 Perth. In the " Birds of Austraha" Mr. Mathews says : — " This 

 bird was first added to the Austrahan list in 1896, when vol. xxiv. 

 of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum was published, 

 from birds collected by the late Bowyer Bower in North-West 

 Australia. Mr. Mattingley, in The Emu of ten years later, 

 recorded it from Victoria. I now extend its Australian dis- 

 tribution, as I have birds collected in North-West Australia, 

 Northern Territory, and Queensland." He does not mention that 

 the British Museum Catalogue also records specimens collected 

 by Sturt in South Australia. Though not an addition to the 

 fauna of the State, this appears to be the first time that its 

 occurrence in the south-west has been put on record. No doubt 

 it belongs to the Eastern sub-species, R. g. affinis, Horsf., but I 

 have no information at hand as to how this differs from the 

 Western form. 



Dendrocygna javanica gouldi (Gould). Whistling Duck. 



There is a specimen of this Duck in the collection which was 

 shot by Mr. Hutchinson at Wanneroo, 16 miles north of Perth, 

 in 1899. Though the " Check-list" gives the range of the species 

 D. arcuata. Gould, as " Australia generally," Mr. Mathews gives 

 " North-West Australia. Northern Territory, Queensland, New 

 South Wales, Victoria," both in the "List" and in the more 

 recent part of the " Birds of Austraha." It would seem, there- 

 fore, that its occurrence in south and south-west Australia had 

 never been recorded, and I hereby supplv the deficiency for the 

 latter. 



Birds and Caterpillars.— Recently I saw a Black-faced Cuckoo- 

 Shrike {Gnuicalns melanops) devouring caterpillars of the Emperor 

 Gum Moth [Anthercea eucalypti). These caterpillars are very 

 large, and are popularly supposed to be objectionable to birds. 

 — T. H. Tregellas. Melbourne, 21/4/15. 



