604 Recent Literature. [&£ 



birds. The biographical treatment is full and interesting, and the author 

 continues to refer the Menura alberti to the separate genus Harriwhitea, 

 which he recently established for it. 



Following this come plates with text of Globicera pacifica, Reinholdia 

 reinholdi, Pterodroma inexpectata, to which by the way he refers Oestrelata 

 fischeri [sic] Ridgway and M. scalaris Brewster; Diomedia chionoptera 

 and Psephotellus chrysopierygius. 



These follow right after the Lyre-birds without any separate heading 

 or anything to show the general reader that they do not belong to that 

 family. Indeed, in the ' Contents ' the Pigeon is so included, while all the 

 others are listed under the genus Reinholdial They could appropriately 

 have been designated Appendix I. There is also a figure of a Cuckoo on 

 the Pigeon plate to which we find no reference whatever, and stranger still 

 a paragraph at the end of the text of the Parrot (Psephotellus) marked 

 'Addenda,' which deals with the nomenclature of a genus of Weaver Finches, 

 a family that will not be considered until one of the last parts of the work. 



We are forced to the opinion that a lot of supplementary material has 

 been printed just as it came to hand, without proper editing or allocation, 

 and this opinion is strengthened by a perusal of the other appendices. 

 That designated 'Appendix A,' while it has no heading, is apparently a 

 list of papers containing Mr. Mathews' descriptions of new Australian 

 birds and a list of extralimital genera, species and subspecies described 

 by him. The first section of the latter consists of new genera proposed 

 in ' The Birds of Australia,' followed by another entitled " Other Genera," 

 by which is apparently meant genera proposed in other works. There are 

 four of these lists with the names arranged in the order in which they occur, 

 but why they were not merged into one, with the names arranged alphabeti- 

 cally, we are at a loss to understand. 



' Appendix B ' is one of the most important contributions to ornithologi- 

 cal bibliography that has appeared for some time, being a list of over 150 

 important ornithological works, with exact dates of publication or refer- 

 ences to sources where this information may be obtained. Mr. Mathews 

 has, as is well known, devoted a great deal of time to working out the 

 history of the publication of the older ornithological works and has here 

 generously placed at the disposal of others the results of his labors. To 

 make the list still more accurate, it was submitted to Dr. Charles W. 

 Richmond for criticism and correction, but here again the lamentable 

 lack of editorial supervision which characterizes this part of the w T ork is 

 again in evidence. For some reason, Dr. Richmond's corrections and 

 comments are not interpolated where they belong, but are printed all 

 together as ' Addenda to Appendix B,' so that unless one looks in both 

 lists for every publication he is liable to get erroneous information. In 

 view of the great demand for the information contained in this appendix 

 and the comparatively few persons who will have access to it in its present 

 location, we trust that Mr. Mathews may in the near future consider pub- 



