264 Correspondence. [.sfAprii 



Correspondence. 



A CORRECTION. 



To the Editors of The Emu. 

 Sirs, — Some notes by Mr. M. W. Elliott on Hylacola cauta, and 

 a short description of a clutch of eggs, appear in The Emu. As 

 the description clearly indicated that the eggs described were not 

 those of the bird referred to, I wrote to Mr. Elliott, furnished him 

 with a full description of the eggs of Hylacola cauta, and made 

 certain suggestions as to how an error might have been made. 

 I am now in receipt of a reply to the effect that the bird described 

 by Mr. Elliott was not a Hylacola but an Amytornis, and the 

 mistake arose owing to the incorrect labelling of a specimen in 

 the Western Australian Museum. Mr. Elliott's description of haunts 

 and habits would fit both genera, but, while the birds are alike 

 in these respects, there is no likeness between the eggs laid by a 

 Ground-Wren and those laid by a Grass-Wren, and the description 

 of eggs given by Mr. Elliott would well apply to the latter, but not 

 to the former.— Yours truly. 

 54 Claremont-avenue, Malvern, 28/2/16. J. A. ROSS. 



DISTRIBUTION OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 



Sirs, — Mr. A. G. Campbell, referring to my former letter,* 

 states t : — "Mr. Howe furnishes for 'corrections and omissions' 

 a list of 27 species, or, rather, mostly sub-species;" and adds 

 " if Mr. Howe refers to their names or equivalent names in the 

 ' Official Check-list of the R.A.O.U.' I think he will find that 

 all the localities (States, at. least) that he has mentioned are 

 recorded, save in one doubtful instance." Mr. Campbell is nearly 

 correct, for they are all recorded in that " Check-list." But he 

 has missed the substance of my letter. I was criticising " A List 

 of the Birds of Australia," by Gregory M. Mathews, pubhshed in 

 1913, and did not refer to any other list or author ; and my reason 

 for criticising the list by Mr. Mathews was that, notwithstanding 

 its many imperfections, it, in my opinion, represents progressive 

 ornithology better than any other list of Australian birds yet 

 produced. I was well aware that many books and lists had 

 recorded the distribution as mentioned by me, and that was why 

 I was astonished that there were so many omissions from the 

 particular list in question. 



I was also aware that Mr. A. J. Campbell had recorded the 

 taking of the eggs of Tropidorhynchus corniculatus at Ferntree 

 Gully, and there is nothing in my letter to indicate that I was 

 not quoting from that record. As a matter of fact, when I 

 wrote I had in mind a nest which I found at the same place in 

 1907, but I might, instead of mentioning Ferntree Gully, have 



* Emu, vol. XV., pp. 71, 72. I £■;«», vol. xv., p. 202. 



