58 Reviews. \JrUy 



field observations, but are not sufficiently advanced to discuss 

 the more scientific side of ornithology. I possess what is 

 probably the most complete collection of Australian birds' eggs 

 in the world. So many of the species included in it have been 

 ignored by Mr. North that I feel justified in going rather fully 

 into the matter. For many years I have employed some of the 

 best collectors in exploring almost every part of Australia for 

 undescribed eggs, and in all cases I have paid particular attention 

 to the identification of everj^hing ; I am, therefore, qualified to 

 express an opinion upon the subject. 



Everyone must admit that where Mr. North has treated a 

 species the work has been exceedingly well done ; but the trouble 

 is — (i) so much has been left out, and (2) so much inconsistency 

 shown, that the good points of the book become overshadowed to a 

 considerable extent by its faults. As the appended list shows, no 

 fewer than sixty recogni-zed species, or sub-species, actually found 

 breeding in the Commonwealth, receive no mention whatever, some 

 glaring instances being : — Eulabeornis castaneiventer, Ninox stremia, 

 Podargus marmoratus, Atrichia riifescens, Micrceca assimilis, 

 Megalurus striatus, Amytornis woodwardi, Collyriocichla wood- 

 wardi, Neositta striata, Zosterops lutea, Lacustroica whitei, and 

 Mirafra riifescens. The omission of the Atrichia is inexcusable, 

 both bird and eggs being known for many years. Why no 

 Micrceca or Megalurus is recorded for Western Australia is another 

 mystery. Many other curious omissions are noted in my attached 

 list. 



Under the heading of inconsistency, we find 15 cases in which 

 birds are described but their eggs omitted. In three instances 

 Gould's descriptions of eggs are used, while in others they are 

 ignored. Birds found breeding outside Australia only have, in 

 the case of Gygis alba and Procelsterna cinerea, been fully written 

 up, while others equally worthy of mention are omitted. In some 

 instances sub-species are recognized, in others disregarded. Two 

 remarkable instances of inconsistency may be noted in the treat- 

 ment of the species Eremiornis carteri and Lacustroica whitei, both 

 of which forms were first described by Mr. North. Eremiornis 

 carteri, whose eggs are unknown, receives a two-page article in 

 " Nests and Eggs," while Lacustroica whitei, whose eggs were 

 described in The Emu,* is not even mentioned. 



In 1889 a book entitled " Descriptive Catalogue of the Nests 

 and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Austraha and Tasmania," 

 by A. J. North, was pubhshed by the Trustees of the Austrahan 

 Museum. In it we find the species Synax-us cervimis (Gould) and 

 Eulabeornis castaneiventer (Gould) listed, and their eggs described ; 

 the present publication ignores them. Eggs of Cladorhynchus 

 leucocephalus (Vieill.), Geocichla macrorhyncha (Gould), Acanthiza 

 inornata (Gould), and Neositta tenuirostris (Gould) were described 

 in the 1889 catalogue, hut are not mentioned in the new ivork. 



* Emu, vol. ix., pp. 166 and 209. 



