TQ r> •«_., [The Emu 



/O RCVICZVS. L 1st July 



This is succeeded on similar lines by a Xame-List of the Birds 

 of Australia. It proved of great value to the Check-list Com- 

 mittee by enabling them to complete their draft with Mathews' 

 latest ])osition before them. Ajjart from genera splitting, there 

 is no vital difference in any jjlace between the work of the Check- 

 list Committee and that of Iredale and Mathews. Some of 

 their changes have been made in advance of recognised rules 

 and principles — e.g., "one letterism." These the Check-li.st Com- 

 mittee are not accepting, but are retaining Synoicus, Or'uima, 

 C alloc ephalou, Plectorhynchus, Mcliphatja, Mylagra, and others 

 altered by Mathews and Iredale. 



Articles on Forgotten Bird-Artists and An Old-time Ornitho- 

 logist (General Davies, who gave the nzmt. siiperba to the Lyre- 

 Bird) ; Snipe and Sandpipers and Sherborn and the Systematist 

 complete four important y)arts of vol. iv. of the Austral Jzian 

 Record. 



["A Manual of the Birds of Au.stralia. " By Mathews and Iredale, 

 with coloured and monochrome plates, volume i. (from the Emu to 

 Pigeons, on Mathews' new arrangement). 



It is true that Latham brought out a supi)lement; that Gould, 

 after the completion of his great work, gave the result of his com- 

 ])leted studies in "The Handbook of the Birds of Australia," 

 and that any author when finishing is in possession of fuller and 

 better information than when he started a great work. Though 

 the Manual is excellently i)roduced, and, indeed, is a necessity 

 to any person interested in Australian birds, still one cannot re- 

 press a feeling of regret that Mathews did not delay the publica- 

 tion of this supi>lementary work until his great work was com- 

 pleted. Of course, the section treated here was comi^leted in 

 the big work years ago, and it is hardly likely there will be much 

 further accession of fresh knowledge of the birds treated. Still 

 Mathews' standards are not yet fixed. It is to be regretted that 

 the Manual appeared while Mathews is still in the phase of 

 excessive splitting of genera, though even now the swing of the 

 pendulum back from his extreme position is plainly indicated in 

 this sentence from the Introduction of the Manual : "When we 

 have studied all the grouj^s with their plumage changes and 

 growth stages, we may suggest genera lum])ing." Apart from 

 this phase, the work will receive a warm welcome. It is con- 

 venient and comi)act, a good .synonymy is given, a full description 

 of adult, immature, chick, nest and egg, and the breeding 

 season, incubation period, distribution and the recognised geo- 

 graphical races (sub-species) are briefly stated. The paper is 

 good, the printing clear, and the binding strong. The plates are 

 well drawn by Miss Lilian Medland. The colour printing is very 

 good, and there is a complete index. The Manual is indispensable 

 to working ornithologists, and those desirous of up-to-date know- 

 ledge of .Australian birds. 



