130 From Magazines, &c, [,„j 



Emi: 



Oct. 



eggs ; how in each case the nest suited its location, and how 

 the eggs varied in shades according to their location. The first 

 week we located 42 birds in the locality, and this gradually in- 

 creased with the return of the migratory birds, and gradually 

 crept onward ; and now, after two years, we have reached the 

 grand total of 130 birds in our own locality, with the complete 

 lives of 120 of the species. During the last six months we have 

 only increased our total by six. The League now runs well ; and 

 the secretary of our League is a little girl only 12 years of age. 

 I acted as secretary myself for the first year. That I might retain 

 the interest of the pupils, I encourage them to bring pictures and 

 clippings from illustrated papers dealing with bird-life, and these 

 the secretary places in our school scrap-book, always open to the 

 children. Local residents, now appreciating the friendship 

 existing between the children and the birds, often present books 

 and articles on birds to the school library, and I often have the 

 pleasure of roaming the hills and valleys with the children, who 

 are now thorough bird-lovers." J 



Nomenclature of Birds.— Mr. Gregory M. Mathews has con- 

 tributed Part IL on this exceedingly technical subject to Novitates 

 Zoolos,icce (vol. xviii., June, 1911). Part L was mentioned in 

 The Emu {ante, pp. 46 and 51). 



In Part IL, as in the previous portions, Mr. Mathews deals almost 

 entirely with Australian birds, but in some cases the generic terms 

 are of more interest to students in general ornithology. In many 

 instances the author has apparently good premises for the establish- 

 ment of certain names of Australian birds not at present used, 

 but in as many instances it appears to be a matter merely where 

 " doctors differ." For example, the author is " inclined to question 

 the correctness of the ruling of ' Opinions rendered by the Inter- 

 national Commission of Zoological Nomenclature ' " itself on an 

 important point. Then, with a positive prioretist like Oberholser 

 he (the author) states in another case his (Oberholser's) " decision 

 must be reversed." And, further, still more puzzling are some 

 of Watling's old drawings, with which the late Dr. Sharpe sought 

 to establish the priority in nomenclature of certain Australian 

 birds. Now Mr. Mathews states there is room for doubting the 

 identification of the names given by Sharpe to several of the 

 drawings. Well may Australians ask — " Why rely on the doubtful 

 drawings of a botanist as against the life-like coloured figures of 

 so great an ornithologist and author as Gould ? " Bed-rock 

 priority run riot, people are apt to say. 



The following may be taken as a sample of Mr. Mathews' 

 research and argument, and how he proposes another name for 

 the Brown-headed Honey-eater [Melithreptiis brevirostris) : — 



" Page 92 : Species 741. — Melithreptus atricapillus, Latham, ' Suppl. 

 Ind. Orn.,' p. xxxvii. (1801), replaces M. brevirostris, Vigors and 

 Horsf. 



