190 REPORT — 1844. 



* Voyage de I'Uranie,' IS^i, and in the 'Voyage de 1' Astrolabe,' 1830, and by 

 Lesson in tlie 'Voyage de la Coquille' and the 'Journal de la Navigation de 

 la fregate Thetis,' 1887, formed the chief materials for Australian ornithology 

 until the expedition of Mr. Gould to that country made a vast accession to 

 our knowledge, which is embodied in his great work, the ' Birds of Australia.* 

 Among those splendid publications of science and art which the liberality of 

 governments have given to the world, there are few which in point of beauty 

 or completeness are superior to this unassisted enterprise of a single indivi- 

 dual. Regardless of expense and risk, M r. Gould proceeded to Australia for 

 the sole purpose of studying Nature in her native wilds, and after spending 

 two years in traversing the forests and plains of that continent, he returned 

 home with a valuable collection of specimens, and a still more precious one 

 o^ facts. These he is now engaged in bringing before the public, and the 

 many new and interesting details of natural history which his work contains 

 indicate powers of observation and of description which will place the name 

 of Gould in the same rank with those of Levaillant, Azara, Bewick, Wilson, 

 and Audubon. 



Of the artistic merits of this publication 1 shall hereafter speak, and shall 

 refer to it at present merely as a work of science. 



Among the new generic groups proposed by Mr. Gould, some, as Pedio- 

 nomus, Sphenostoma, &c., possess sufficiently well-marked characters ; but 

 others, as Donacola, Erythrodryas, Erythrogonys, Syncecus, Geophaps., ap- 

 pear hardly to deserve generic separation. These so-called genera seem to 

 be founded upon slight peculiarities of form, habit, or colouring, to which, 

 however interesting in themselves, we ought not, I think, to attach a generic 

 value, unless we are prepared to reduce all our other genera to the same low 

 standard, a step which would increase the number of genera and diminisii 

 their importance to an extent that would be highly inconvenient. I may also 

 remark that some of the birds which Mr. Gould regards as distinct species, 

 appear to possess insufficient diagnostic characters. Peculiarities of climate 

 and food will always exert a certain influence on the stature and on the in- 

 tensity of colour in the same species, and so long as the proportions and the 

 distribution of the colours remain unaltered, we should hesitate in raising the 

 local varieties thus produced to the rank of species, unless we are ready to 

 go the same length as M. Brehm, who by this means has trebled the number 

 of European species. As instances of Australian birds the real specific di- 

 stinctness of which appears to me doubtful,! may mention Mr. Gould's Jfa^Mr»As 

 cyaneus and longicaudus, Amytis textilis and striatus, Astur approximans and 

 crtientus, Hylacola pyrrhopygia and cauta. 



Passing over these slight defects, it is certain that the facts brought for the 

 first time to our knowledge by Mr. Gould have cleared up many doubtful 

 questions respecting the true affinities of the anomalous forms so prevalent in 

 Australia. Being now informed as to their habits and, in many cases, their 

 anatomy, we are enabled to classify with certainty the once ambiguous groups 

 Talegalla, Psophodes, Menura, Fcdcunculus, Artanius and others. In other 

 cases, as in the genera PtUonorhynchus and Calodera, the obser^'ed habits of 

 the birds are even more anomalous than their structure, and rather increase 

 than diminish the difficulty of classifying them. 



Mr. Gould's work is also valuable for its critical examinations of the labours 

 of other authors, the synonyms being for the most part carefully elaborated, 

 and a due regard paid to the principle of priority in nomenclature. It is to be 

 hoped that this delightful and truly original work will be hereafter republished 

 in a more portable form, as its present costly style of illustration necessarily 

 restricts it to a small number of readers. 



