"^ 1914 J Recent Literature. 117 



Check-list of Australian birds prepared by a Committee of the Royal 

 Australasian Ornithologists' Union , inasmuch as the list did not at all reflect 

 the present status of Australian ornithology, while it rejected the principles 

 of zoological nomenclature now in almost universal use. In the course of 

 our remarks we expressed regret that the Committee could not have seen 

 its way clear to avail itself of Mr. Gregory M. Mathews' laborious researches 

 into the nomenclature of Australian birds. 



While we have had no occasion to alter our views on this matter, we are 

 gratified to find that Mr. Mathews has gone steadily along with his re- 

 searches and has now embodied them in a ' List of the Birds of Austraha ' 

 which represents the finished result of the investigations of which his 

 ' Reference List,' good as it was, constituted only a preliminary outline. 

 While still rigidly upholding the International Code of Nomenclature 

 Mr. Mathews has gone farther and has relinquished such of his personal 

 views as were at variance with the published ' opinions ' of the Interna- 

 tional Commission, and accepted the generic names of Brisson. It is 

 broadminded action of this kind, that gives us such high hope of attaining 

 a uniform zoological nomenclature in the not very distant future. 



Mr. Mathews' ' List ' follows the plan of the last edition of the A. O. U. 

 Check-List and the recent Hand-List of British Birds by Messrs. Hartert^ 

 Jourdain, Ticehurst and Witherby; giving binomial headings for the groups 

 of subspecies, generic types and the method of their fixation, and the type 

 locality for each species as well as its range. It is moreover an improve- 

 ment upon these lists in that it gives a full synonymy for both genera and 

 species and fixes types for the generic synonyms. The work thus becomes 

 far more than a list of AustraUan birds, being an important contribution to 

 the study of ornithological nomenclature. 



As an authoritative Austrahan hst it stands preeminent. The Uterature 

 has been exhaustively studied, every point of nomenclature has been made 

 to conform with the rulings and opinions of the only authoritative body 

 that we have — the International Commission and personal opinion has 

 been made subservient to majority rule. It is to be earnestly hoped that 

 Australian ornithologists will be broadminded enough to realize that in 

 order to have any permanency in nomenclature we must follow some au- 

 thoritative rules, and that they will accept as their guide the splendid work 

 that Mr. Mathews has produced. Much remains to be done on Austrahan 

 birds but here is a solid foundation upon which to build. No human work 

 is infallible, there will be additions to this Ust as well as eliminations and 

 alterations — without them there could be no progress, and there are alsO' 

 legitimate diflferences of opinion as to just how much differentiation a form; 

 should exhibit to warrant recognition. These, however, are inevitable in 

 any list and we cannot but feel that this work of Mr. Mathews is going to 

 be the one followed by the progressive ornithologists of Australia, many of 

 whom are evidently not in sympathy with the Ust prepared by their com- 

 mittee. 



In his preface Mr. Mathews presents a historic review of systematic 



