THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Assistant in Ornithology at the Museum, and a member of the 

 Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, and to which work supple- 

 ments have since been added. It is, perhaps, rather late in the 

 day for critical remarks, but as this is the first opportunity I have 

 had, and as the work has been endowed and issued with all 

 official authority, I deem an honest comment upon Mr. North's 

 labours will not, even now, be out of place. 



As a " catalogue," the work is certainly very descriptive, 

 although the author, with modesty, states that the "remarks on 

 each species are necessarily very iDrief ; but, in order to somewhat 

 relieve the monotony of one technical description following 

 another, and where eggs have been previously described, I have 

 given in full, in some instances, papers contributed at various 

 times by Dr. Ramsay to the Ibis, entitled ' Notes on Birds 

 Breeding in the Neighbourhood of Sydney,' and, in addition, 

 given extracts, which I thought might prove of interest, from 

 other papers furnished by the same author to kindred societies 

 and publications." Ihere are about 150 such descriptions by 

 Dr. Ramsay. The " Catalogue " is a monument of laborious 

 research and painstaking work, which can only be appreciated 

 and understood by those who undertake such work. While 

 going through the collection of eggs at the Museum, and others, 

 Mr. North's experience as a collector has enabled liim to describe 

 only authenticated specimens and to discard unreliable evidence. 

 As far as I have looked into the work I have found only a few 

 inaccuracies — one, in particular, I shall point out further on. 



1 he common name of the bird has properly appeared under 

 the scientific title of the species of egg described. The matter of 

 common names for Australian birds to be adopted in all the 

 colonies is before the Science Association, and in the able hands 

 of Colonel Legge. What is the utility of our calling a bird the 

 Wattled Plover when another colony calls it a Lapwing, while a 

 third calls it a " Pee-wee." Now that our indigenous birds are 

 becoming scarce, and Government are being urged towards proper 

 protection, we must adopt for a bird one common name, because 

 the " Game Acts " schedule birds by their vernacular titles, and the 

 law may be defeated, as it often is. A " sportsman " shoots a 

 plover out of season : when properly summoned, he escapes justice 

 because he proves the bird shot is known as a "Pee-wee." 



Mr. North also retains that necessary adjunct needed by all 

 oological students — namely, the geographical distribution of the 

 species. But I fail to see why he has so regularly placed in 

 parenthesis "Ramsay" after nearly all the localities, when the 

 immortal Gould recorded many of them years ago. "Honour to 

 whom honour is due " is a good axiom, and Dr. Ramsay's 

 reference should have been claimed only for extension of localities 

 hitherto unrecorded, or for corrections. 



