208 



NATURE 



\yuly 6, 1876 



acknowledged to be strictly true. Our conviction of its 

 truth must therefore rest on some deeper foundation than 

 the experiments which suggested it to our minds. The 

 belief in and the search for such foundations is, I think, 

 the most characteristic feature of all Dr. Whewell's work. 



J. Clerk Maxwell 



GOULD'S BIRDS OF NEW GUINEA 



The Birds of Neio Guinea and the Adjacetit Papuan 

 Islands, including any new Species that tnay be Dis- 

 covered in Australia. By John Gould, F.R.S., &c. 

 Parts I., II., and III. (London : Published by the 

 Author,. 1 875-76.) 



NOT long ago we had the pleasure of recording in 

 these columns the completion of one of Mr. 

 Gould's great series of illustrated works on ornithology. 

 We have now to notice the commencement of another 

 work belonging to the same category, of not less import- 

 ance, on the origin of which we propose to say a few 

 words. The "Birds of Australia" must be known to 

 most of our scientific readers as one of the most import- 

 ant ornithological works ever produced in this or any 

 other country. Defects it has, no doubt — nothing is per- 

 feet in this world — but, whereas before its existence the 

 birds of that great continent were almost unknown to 

 naturalists, the termination of Mr. Gould's labours left us 

 with such a history of the feathered inhabitants of this 

 portion of the globe as hardly any other country at that 

 time possessed. Some years after the completion of his 

 " Birds of Australia," Mr. Gould issued the first number 

 of a supplement to the same work, undertaken for the 

 purpose of illustrating the new species discovered by his 

 various agents and correspondents, as new portions of 

 Australian territory were explored. This was completed 

 in 1869, and gave us an account of 81 species, in addi- 

 tion to 600 already included in the original " Birds of 

 Australia." The work of which the two first numbers 

 are now before us — though a different title is given to it — 

 is, in fact, a second supplement to the " Birds of Aus- 

 tralia." New Guinea, as is now well understood by 

 naturalists, in spite of a certain amount of idiosyncrasy, 

 belongs'essentially to the same fauna as Australia. Long 

 ago it was known that many peculiarities are common to 

 the animal and vegetable products of these two countries. 

 Since Northern Australia has been explored, and further 

 investigation made of the rich fauna of New Guinea, the 

 mjmy points of contact between the natural productions 

 of these two lands have been greatly augmented, and there 

 can be little question that we have in New Guinea an 

 exaggerated reproduction of many of the chief peculiari- 

 ties of the Australian type. Looking to the great interest 

 that is now more than ever attaching itself to the pro- 

 ducts of New Guinea, Mr. Gould has very naturally 

 determined to combine his illustrations of the many won- 

 derful birds of that country with the new additions that 

 he still continues to receive from Australia, and this is, 

 in fact, the object of the present work. 



The great feature in the ornithology of New Guinea is, 

 as is well known, the Paradise-Birds, which are mostly 

 confined to that country and the adjoining islands, though 



some of the members extend far into North Eastern 

 Australia. The splendid metallic colouring of these birds 

 and the ornamental tufts and plumes that adorn the 

 adult males, afford welcome subjects to the artist's pencil, 

 and are naturally objects on which Mr. Gould is desirous 

 of showing his habitual skill. We have not, therefore, 

 to turn over many leaves of his first number, before we 

 come across representations of two of the finest members 

 of this group, namely the Six-plumed Paradise Bird, known 

 to naturalists since the days of Linnaeus, and D'Albertis' 

 Paradise Bird, one of the most recent additions to this 

 remarkable group. In the second number Mr. Gould 

 gives us figures of the three species oiDiphyllodes, another 

 remarkable member of the same family. Some of the 

 splendid parrots of New Guinea are likewise depicted. 



In the third part of his work, which has only been 

 istued within these last few days, further illustrations of the 

 magnificent group of Paradise-Birds are given. The 

 singular species of Diphyllodes, so remarkable for its bare 

 head, which the late Prince Charles Bonaparte, in his 

 democratic ardour, dedicated to the Republic, is among the 

 most striking forms yet discovered even in this wonderful 

 group, and both sexes are admirably figured in the present 

 number. Although originally described from a single im- 

 perfect specimen, this striking bird has recently been dis- 

 covered by Dr. Bernstein living in the islands of Waigion 

 and Botanta, and no less than ten specimens obtained by 

 this zealous but unfortunate explorer ornament the gallery 

 of the Leyden Museum. The King Bird of Paradise 

 {Cicinnurus regius) is another species selected by Mr. 

 Gould for illustration in the present number. Although 

 known to us since the last century, it is only of late years 

 that perfect specimens have reached the collections of 

 Europe. Our countryman, Mr. Wallace, was one of the 

 first naturalists to observe it in its native forests, and his 

 eloquent account of the specimens obtained by him in 

 Aru will be known to many of our readers. Still more 

 recently, the naturalists in the employ of the Leyden 

 Museum and the Italian explorers D'Albertis and Beccari 

 have sent to Europe a large number of specimens of it. 

 Five charming parrots of the most brilliant and strongly 

 contrasted colours, several of which are hitherto unfigured, 

 are likewise depicted in Mr. Gould's third number. 



The part terminates with figures of two recent additions 

 to the Avifauna of Australia. Of these the two named 

 Sternula placens is perhaps rather a doubtful species as 

 regards its norelty to science, though doubtless new to 

 the Australian list. The second Glyciphila subfasciata is 

 one of Mr. E. P. Ramsay's interesting discoveries in 

 Northern Queensland, and is one of the smallest and most 

 plainly coloured of the great and characteristic of the 

 Australian family of Honey-eaters. 



In concluding our notice of this important work, we 

 may venture to say that those who are acquainted with the 

 author's failing health, cannot but admire the spirit which 

 he has displayed in commencing it, while every one will, 

 we are sure, heartily join with us in wishing him complete 

 recovery and a successful accomplishment of his arduous 

 task. When one of our Italian friends has recently 

 described fifty-two new species of Papuan birds in a 

 single memoir, even Mr. Gould's well-known energy will 

 have to exert itself considerably in order to keep up with 

 what is going on. 



