Vol. III. J Australasian Ornithologists' Union. '49 



data on distribution published since last Congress. His long 

 notice of the birds of the Geelong district contains remarks on 

 about 140 species, which ought to give a very fair idea of the 

 avifauna of that part of Victoria, besides furnishing some in- 

 teresting details on the habits of the species observed. Mr. Hill 

 has likewise added to the observations on Western Australian 

 birds of Messrs. Carter and Milligan, by a paper, in Part 2 of the 

 present volume, on birds observed at Brookton, on the Albany 

 and Perth railway line. Some 40 or 50 birds are noticed, among 

 which is Hirundo ncoxcna in July, which gives South-Western 

 Australia as one of the winter quarters of our Welcome Swallow. 

 In reference to the habit of Artamus sordidus of " clustering," 

 this appears not to occur in areas to which it migrates in the 

 summer for breeding purposes. Seldom more than two or three 

 pairs are seen in the same spot. It is apparently a habit, of the 

 young birds in particular during the first winter, slightly 

 resembling the packing of young Starlings and other birds in 

 their immature stage. Western Australia, from Mr. Hill's note, 

 is shown to be one of the areas to which Artamus sordidus 

 returns in the winter. 



In Part 1, vol. iii., Mr. Hall continues his review of a collection 

 of birds from North-Western Australia — Fitzroy River — accom- 

 panied by field notes from Mr. Rogers, which give information 

 as to the habits and distribution of the species discussed. Notices 

 of collections from the far North will, when combined, form the 

 basis to work out the geographical, distribution of the avifauna 

 of this comparatively little known sub-region of Australasia ; 

 but, in order that migratory birds maybe successfully dealt with, 

 the dates of all specimens procured should be carefully recorded 

 by the collector for the cabinet naturalist's information, and the 

 length of the bird from tip of bill to tip of tail recorded on the 

 label. Other measurements can be given by the reviewer of the 

 collection. 



Mr. Rogers has an interesting note on the rearing of Channel- 

 billed Cuckoos by the Crow {Corone australis).* 



It may be right to -mention here that, in order to further 

 our knowledge of the seasonal migrations of both oversea and 

 " internal" migrants, a record of the breeding of all Picarian, 

 Columbine, and Limicoline species in the north, north-eastern, 



* The mistake of inverting the generic and specific titles of the Raven and the 

 Crow appears to have arisen as the result of some little obscurity in the 

 observations, p. 38, vol. ii , Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., and to the fact being 

 overlooked in Australia that, as Dr. Sharpe had made a Raven and a Crow out 

 of an Australian form, the generic title Corvus- Raven — would have to be applied 

 to the bird now recognized as a Raven, and Corone to that relegated to our lists 

 as a Crow. Should the wording of the abovenamed " observations " on the Aus- 

 tralian Crow be not clear to those who peruse the British Museum Catalogue, a 

 glance at the descriptions of Ravens and Crows in the volume, and in which all our 

 well-known Ravens are in the genus Corvus, and the equally familiar Crows — the 

 European and Indian Bazaar Crow, Corone splendens, for example— placed in Corone, 

 should make the matter clear that the Raven cannot be placed in the genus Corone. 



