78 From Magazines, Src. risf'oct 



theless the collection increases our knowledge of Siberian orni- 

 thology considerably, and we are much indebted to Mr. Hall for 

 his energetic enterprise in making it." 



* * » • 



In the "Records of the Australian Museum," vol. v., p. 125 

 (1904), Mr. A. J. North describes a new Thickhead — Pachy- 

 cephala howensis — from Lord Howe Island, which is closely allied 

 to P . giitturalis of Australia. Mr. North also refers to a variety 

 found in South Australia which he believes to be intermediate 

 between P. gutturalis and P. occidentalis, and for which he 

 proposes the name P . meriodinalis. The new variety is like 

 the Western bird — P. occidentalis — " but has the basal portion 

 of the tail feathers of a slightly darker grey and the blackish- 

 brown apical band darker and broader." 



Is not this another case of hair-splitting as to nomenclature ? 

 Such widely different environments as those of the Western 

 Australian Thickhead referred to and those of such a much 

 more eastern and much more isolated species as the one recorded 

 from Lord Howe Island — an ocean-surrounded habitat — are pro- 

 bably more than sufficient to account for greater differences in 

 the plumage of any given species than those described. When 

 an intermediate species is acknowledged, as by Mr. North in 

 this case, are not the probabilities that this question should be 

 answered in the affirmative all the greater ? Differences in 

 closely allied species (see Mr. A. W. Milligan's paper in this issue, 

 page 48) are " not always constant or apparent," and there seems 

 no doubt that mature and immature birds have been classed 

 as different species. Mr. Milligan records " many variations in 

 the colour of P . occidentalis, which have been more or less relied 

 upon as distinguishing characteristics in allied members of the 

 genus." Hence arises another question which must be considered 

 — Are the specimens newly named a fair average of, say, a whole 

 year's collection (which would include every phase of plumage) 

 or are they (possibly it only) some which have been obtained 

 during only one month in the year ? It is questionable whether 

 plumage phases have had due attention paid to them by collectors 

 of Australian birds, and again more manifest that a great deal 

 of revision on the part of the " Check-List " Committee of the 

 Aust. O.U. will be required. 



* * * 



The Straw-necked Ibis {Carphibis spniicollis). — A curious 

 example of the economy of nature has been given in the Western 

 District of late years, in connection with the grub pest. A small 

 yellowish grub, about three-quarters of an inch long, began to 

 play havoc with the pastures, revelling in the richer soils. This 

 grub burrows just beneath the surface of the soil, and cuts off 

 the stems of the grass, which then, of course, dry up, and are 

 blown away. The grubs begin work in the early autumn, and 

 keep on until the winter rains kill them off. Two years ago 



