110 REPORT 1875. 



but his collections contained a certain number of birds, amongst ■wbicli was a new 

 Parrot, described after bis decease by Mr. Vigors as Psittacus (/uildiiKjii, wbicb is 

 a native of St. Vincent. 



13. Grenada and the Grenadines, — Of the special ornithology of this group 

 nothing is linown. 



14. Barbadoes. — The sole authority* upon the birds of Barbadoes is Sir R. Schom- 

 burgk's well-known worli on that island (136). This contains (p. 681) a list of 

 the birds met with, accompanied by some few remarks. It does not, however, 

 appear that birds attracted much of the author's attention ; and more copious notes 

 would be highly desirable. 



15. Tobago, I believe, belongs zoologically to Trinidad. Sir W. .Tardine has 

 given us an account of its ornithology from Mr. Kirk's collections (137). 



VI. THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 



Of the Australian Region I will speak in the following Subdi\ision3 : — 



1. Australia and Tasmania. 



2. Paima and the Pajntan Islands. 



3. The Solomon Islands. 



1. Australia and Tasmania. 



Tliat we Iniow more of the fauna of Australia than of other English colonies in 

 different parts of the world is certain ; but no thanks are due from us for this 

 knowledge either to the Imperial or to any of tlie Colonial Governments. The 

 unassisted enterprise of a private individual has produced the two splendid works 

 iipon the Mammals and Birds of Australia which we all turn to with pleasure 

 whenever reference is required to a member of these two classes of Australian 

 animals. Mr. Gould's ' Mammals of Australia ' was completed in 1863 (1). Since 

 tliat period the little additional information received respecting the terrestrial 

 Mammals of Australia has been chiefly furnished by Mr. Krefft of the Australian 

 Museum, Sydney, in various papers and memoii's. Mr. Kreift has also written the 

 letterpress to some large illustrations of the ' Mammals of Australia/ by Miss 

 H. Scott and Mrs. II. Forde (2), in which a short account of all the described 

 species is given. On the marine Mammals, which were scarcely touched upon by 

 Mr. Gould, we have a treatise by Mr. A. W. Scott (3) published at Sydney in 

 1873, which contains a good deal of useful information concerning the Seals and 

 Whales of the Southern Hemisphere t- 



The magniflcent series of seven volumes of Mr. Gould's 'Birds of Australia' (4) 

 was finislied in 1848. In 1869 a supplementary volume was issued, containing 

 similar full-sized illustrations of about 80 species. In 186-5 Mr. Gould reprinted 

 in a quarto form, with additions and corrections, tlie letterpress of his great work, 

 and published it under the title of a ' Handbook to the Birds of Australia ' (5). 

 This makes a convenient work for general reference. Of two Colonial attempts 

 to rival Mr. Goidd's series I cannot speak with much praise. Neither Mr. Diggles's 

 ' Ornithology of Australia ' (6) nor Mr. HaUey's proposed ' Monograph of the 

 Australian^ Parrots ' (7) are fa,r advanced towards conclusion ; indeed ol the last- 

 mentioned work I have seen but one number. 



Several large collections of birds have been made in the peninsula of Cape York 

 and adjoining districts of Nortliern Queensland of late years ; and it is a misfortune 

 for science that we have had no complete account of them. One of the largest of 

 these, however, made by Mr. J. T. Cockerell, has luckily fallen into the hands of 

 Messrs. Salvin and Godman, and will, I trust, be turned to better uses than the 

 filling of glass cases and the ornamentation of ladies' hats. 



It seems to me that there is still much to be done even in Birds in Northern 

 Australia ; and I cannot help thinking that Port Darwin, the northern extremity 



* A short note on a small collection of birds from Barbadoes was also published by 

 mc in the P. Z. S. 1874, p. 174 (138). 



t A general view of the Mammal-fanna of Australia is given in an article which I pub- 

 lislied in the ' Quarterly Journal of Science' for 1865, p. 213. 



