584 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



The following Table of the E-ange or Distribution of the Australian 

 Birds so far as at present known is intended to indicate the species 

 that have been found in each of the seven colonies into which Au- 

 stralia is divided. Zoologically speaking, these colonies are not so 

 many natural provinces ; at the same time we cannot fail to notice 

 that the avifaunse of New South Wales and Victoria are in the 

 main very different from those of Western and Northern Australia; 

 in which latter I include the Victoria River and Port Essington, 

 or that portion ofthe country, parallel to the Cape York district, 

 on the north-east coast, now forming part of Queensland. Those 

 persons in either of the colonies who possess this Handbook may, 

 by consulting the Table, at once see what species are found in the 

 part of the country in which they may be residing, and, with very 

 little trouble to themselves, improve the list by adding an asterisk 

 in cases of omission. 



Those species the names of which are printed in italics are not 

 Australian, but are added for the reasons given at the commence- 

 ment of the Appendix. With regard to the authorities for the 

 names employed, I have pursued the same plan as that adopted in 

 my other publications : that is, where the original generic and 

 specific names remain unchanged, the name of the author is given ; 

 but where these names have been altered, it is omitted. In my 

 own case, however, I have retained my name to such of the sj)ecies 

 originally described by me as are now adopted by ornithologists, 

 notwithstanding that in many instances they have been placed in 

 genera different from those to which I had assigned them. 



