Vol. XVII. J 5j,y^y Feathers. 5Q 



bang at the Hawks as a matter of course, not knowing they are 

 destroying good friends, are away from the Commonwealth just 

 now, so that the Raptores have a chance to increase. The 

 Harrier, on clear, warm afternoons in summer, has a habit of 

 mounting high in the air and circling in a leisurely fashion at this 

 altitude, as if for pure enjoyment. — H. Stuart Dove, F.Z.S., 

 R.A.O.U. W. Devonport, Tasmania, 10/2/17. 



From Magazines, &c. 



The Value of Sub-species. — In The Ibis, January, 1917, p. 120, 

 Mr. Gregory M. Mathews has contributed a most important 

 letter. It speaks for itself, and terminates thus : — " I have con- 

 cluded that the value of sub-species is almost negligible in Aus- 

 tralian ornithology. In the Palaearctic Region they may be 

 useful, but even here I think. that they have been much over- 

 rated ; while if large series are examined from Austraha, very 

 many sub-specific forms can be differentiated, but larger series 

 always link most extreme cases up very quickly. Consequently, 

 in my ' Birds of Australia ' I have depreciated sub-species. 

 . . . . This course was adopted nearly two years ago." 



Mr. Mathews is to be congratulated on the frankness of this 

 admission. Many of his best friends in Australia were getting 

 bewildered in the mazes of his sub-species and consequent nomen- 

 clature, while he w'll win many who were flatly opposed to his 

 system. But, in fairness to both supporters and opponents, Mr. 

 Mathews, likewise in justice to himself, not to mention the 

 science, should have made known the purport of his letter, con- 

 sidering that he changed his attitude regarding sub-species 

 " nearly two years ago." No people are more interested than 

 Australians in Mr. Mathews's work. — A. J. C. 



Obituary Notice. 



NORTH. — On the 6th May, 1917, at his residence, " Hillcrest," Darling- 

 street, Chatswood, Sydney, Alfred John, the beloved husband of Clara 

 R. North, and second son of the late Henry and Mary T. North, Moonee 

 Ponds, Victoria, Ornithologist to the Australian Museum, Sydney, aged 

 61 years. 



The friends of the late Mr. A. J. North, C.M.B.O.U., will greatly 

 regret his demise, which occurred somewhat suddenly from heart 

 failure on Sunday, 6th May. His remains were buried at the 

 Gore Hill Cemetery, Sydney. 



The late ornithologist was born nth June, 1855, at North 

 Melbourne, and was educated at the Public School, and subse- 

 quently at the Grammar School, South Melbourne. He was 

 apprenticed to the jeweller's trade, and worked assiduously at his 



