PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 



fHE opportunity to publish a " Key to the Birds of Australia " is 

 practically given in the catalogues of the British Museum 

 dealing with the birds of the world, commenced in 1872 and 

 concluded in the present year. The Key, comprising in each case a 

 concise digest of the 770 species of birds found in Australia and 

 Tasmania, is built principally upon these catalogues. Many descrip- 

 tions are exactly reproduced, others are added to, and a portion is 

 described from the author's collection. The classification is almost 

 wholly that of the British Museum, while the nomenclature is entirely 

 so. Gould's and Eamsay's names appear as synonyms in nearly all 

 cases, and the most important vernaculars of late use are bracketed 

 after each species. 



The systematic work done by Mr. North, of the Australian Museum, 

 has aided me in the digest of the Accipitres. 



The geographical distribution of our birds is here placed very much 

 upon the plan of sub-regions defined by Professor Spencer in the 

 " Horn Expedition Eeport (Zool.)," and it appears to me an appro- 

 priate one. 



I have consulted with advantage Dr. Ramsay's " Geographical 

 Distribution of Australian Birds," in tabular form. The method of 

 locating the birds adopted here differs from that in so far as sub- 

 regions, and not colonies and towns, are used. The appendix map 

 indicates the Eyrean, Torresian, and Bassian sub-regions, as proposed 

 by Professor Spencer, and these again are divided into nine areas. 

 The Torresian embraces Ramsay's Northern Territory towns and a 

 portion of Carpentaria in 1 ; a portion of Carpentaria and North 

 Queensland in 2 ; South Queensland, with the Richmond and Clarence 

 Rivers, in 3. 



The Bassian sub-region welds the eastern parts of New South 

 Wales and Victoria and Tasmania tdgether the first two as 4, and 

 the last as 5. 



The Eyrean sub-region includes Central and Western Australia, and 

 the northern and western parts of Victoria and the interior of New 

 South Wales. Dr. Ramsay unites Victoria with South Australia, but 

 I find that the parts of Victoria and South Australia included in the 

 Eyrean region constitute, so far as the avifauna is concerned, one 

 area, designated 6 ; Central Australia forms area 7 ; North- West 

 Australia forms area 8 ; and Western Australia forms area 9. 



In the allocation of species to definite areas it is to be borne in mind 

 that the boundaries are only those absolutely kept to by the species 



