^"'ijfs"'] Agnew, The Birds of Peel Island. Q7 



(Leptospermum). Nests made of tea-tree bark, dead gum leaves, 

 fine twigs, and horsehair, or any string that may be found. 



Pipit, or Ground-Lark (Anthus australis). — Several pairs seen. The 

 nest which 1 found was in a tuft of grass, made of dried grass and 

 fibrous roots. Three eggs are laid, of a greyish-white colour, blotched 

 and freckled with light brown and purplish-grey. 



Shining Starling (Aplonis metallica). — Several specimens have been 

 observed. 



Satin Bower-Bird {Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus). — This is the only 

 Bower-Bird which frequents the island. A pair comes now and again 

 and stops for a few months. 



Australian Crow (Corvus coronoides). — Common. The stick nests 

 made by these birds are found in the high branches of gum-trees. 



Australian Raven (Corvus australis). — Common at times. 



American View of the R.A.O.U. ** Check^Iist." 



The "Check-list of North American Birds " is the production of 

 many years of painstaking work by many masters in ornithology. 

 Whether Australians approve or disapprove of this masterpiece 

 little concerns our American cousins. Conversely, the appearance 

 of the Australian '• Check-list," as seen through American spectacles, 

 is not necessarily of vital importance to Australian students. 

 Possibly each side may be right from its own point of view. 



The Auk (vol. xxx., No. 3, July, 1913) has been good enough to 

 devote two pages (445-6) to a review, which is entitled to respect 

 by Australian ornithologists, on the " Check-list " recently issued 

 by the R.A.O.U. 



Adverse criticism on the Austrahan " List" was partly expected 

 from this quarter, owing to the binomial nomenclature, the 

 limitation of the law of priority, &c., being diametrically opposed 

 to the American system ; consequently the learned reviewer 

 expresses the opinion that the principles governing the list 

 " constitute the most remarkable code of nomenclature that 

 has been framed in recent times." We agree that the list is a 

 " remarkable " production. It is unique : it retains binomialism 

 and rejects trinomialism ; it fixes the law of priority at Gould, thus 

 approaching the " statute of limitations," which the Americans 

 rejected ; and, although rules and explanations have been cited, 

 it is an " authoritative " list based on Gould. There is not another 

 list of the kind extant, and is not likely to be, for the same 

 conditions do not obtain in any other country. Further, the 

 reviewer has not had the same experience and knowledge as 

 Australians of the practical application of trinomial methods — in 

 fact, he evades that important issue, the practical application of 

 trinomials, which, according to Mathews, increases the number of 

 Australian species and sub-species from 800 to 1,500 at a jump — 

 otherwise he might more readily comprehend the vigorous 

 objections of Australians. 



