^"'" ^' ] Cnrreaf^nnrhnre. ^Q 



of the species pertaining to other countries, about twenty-four in 

 number, which have been figured in the foUo edition .... 

 as I believe that the interest of the present volumes will thereby 

 be enhanced to those who possess the illustrated work. The 

 species alluded to comj^rise the curious Didunciilus styigirostris, 

 Sonioplera wallacci, Strigops hahroptilus, and a few others from 

 New Zealand, Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, &c." Eight 

 species of birds peculiar to Loid Howe or Xoilolk Islands were 

 included in this a])pendi.\. 



In 1888 Dr. Ramsay included in his " Tabular List of all the 

 Australian Birds at Present Known to the Author " a list of species 

 found on Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. Although the two 

 pages containing this list are headed " List of Australian Birds," 

 the fact that they are placed at the end of the volume, and include 

 not only the si)ecies peculiar to. but also the mainland species 

 rt'corded from these islands, already included in the preceding 

 pages, warrants the conclusion that Dr. Ramsay regarded 

 the island species as belonging to a region scj^arate from Aus- 

 tralia. 



North,* under the heading " Nests and Eggs of Birds Found 

 Breeding on Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands," says : — " These 

 remote insular dependencies of New South Wales, situated in 

 the Pacific Ocean, possess a great interest to students of Aus- 

 tralian ornithology, as within their limited areas several genera 

 of birds are found that are represented in the Australian and 

 New Zealand regions. Both islands, however, in regard to their 

 avifauna, decidedly belong to the Australian region. . . ." 

 This list comprises twelve species peculiar to these islands and 

 three common to the mainland also. 



In my " Birds of Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands "f I re- 

 marked that " it may be said that the whole avifauna of these 

 islands is more distinctly Australian in character, although the 

 Wood-Hen [Ocydromiis sylvestris) and the extinct Notornis alba 

 and Nestor pvodiictiis may be regarded as of greater value in 

 determining the original route of migration." 



From a zoogeographical point of view these islands would appear 

 to belong to separate regions, neither of which can be regarded 

 as originally Australian. In his " Zoogeographic Scheme for the 

 Mid-Pacific,"J Hedley places Lord Howe Island on the extreme 

 south-west and Norfolk Island on the eastern extremity of his 

 " Limit of Continental Area," and the route of migration of fauna 

 from Antarctica is shown as j^assing through New Zealand and 

 Norfolk Island, with a lateral branch to Lord Howe Island. If 

 this scheme were adopted for the avifauna of these islands they 

 would more properly be assigned to the Neo-Zelanic region. 

 Recent discoveries in the terrestrial mollusca of Norfolk Island 



* " Nests and Mggs of Birds l-'oiind Breeding in Australia and Tasmania " 

 (1889), p. 407. 



^ Proc. Linn. Soc. .Y..SMI'. (1909), vol. xxxiv., p. 640. 

 XProc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (1889), p. 391. 



