202 Recently inihllshed Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



Mathews on Australian Birds. 



[The Birds of Australia. By Gregorj^ M. Matliews. Vol. ix. pt. 4 ; 

 pp. 145-192, pis. 418-424. London (VVitherby), October 1921.] 



The reader of tliis part of Mr. Mathews's work will at once 

 recognize that the chief points o£ interest lie in the genera 

 Orthonyx and Cinclusoma. Their place in any classification 

 is still quite doubtful, so the author sets tlieni apart in the 

 families Orthonycidse and Cinclosomatidse, until the anatomy 

 has been further examined. Both are exclusively Australian. 

 The curious Spine-tailed Log-runner of the New South 

 Wales and Queensland scrubs is a well known, though 

 very local, bird which keeps entirely to the ground ; the 

 Black-headed Log-runner, separated by Mr. Mathews as 

 Macrothonyx^ is confined to the E,ockingham Bay district, 

 and is more shy and less known. Two points of nomen- 

 clature should be noticed — first, that the specific name of 

 Orthonyx should be temminchii Ranzani and not maculalus 

 ov spinicaudus ; second, that its relative in New Guinea is 

 certainly specifically and perhaps generically distinct and 

 may be called Papunrthonyx, n. g. 



The nearest allies of Oinclosoma are discussed on page 182, 

 when the two species (the Spotted and Chestnut-backed 

 Ground-birds) come under consideration. Our knowledge 

 of the one dates from Latham, of the other from Gould ; 

 both keep much to the ground, but are perfectly able to fly 

 for moderate distances ; in their curious habits and pretty 

 coloration they remind us of the Log-runners, but they are 

 much more widely distributed. 



The other species in this part are Lalage tricolor, con- 

 tinued from part 3, with an interesting description of its 

 habits and forms ; Kama leucomela, a bird separated by the 

 author from Lalage on structural considerations, where 

 the habits are almost ignored by field naturalists, no doubt 

 on account of their similarity to those of its congener; 

 and two species of Fig-bird {Sphecothei-es^^ under a family 

 Sphecotherida^, closely allied to, if not identical with, 

 Cauipophagidie (j). 158), and certainly not to be coUpled 



