148 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



With regard to the law of priority it is a matter on which 

 all systematic workers have been in times past and now are 

 agreed, that it is only by its strict application under 

 some code of generally recognized laws that can bring 

 us to finality in this tiresome matter of nomenclature ; 

 there can be no doubt that in the past^ many workers have 

 neglected to carry out the rules to their logical conclusion 

 for fear of introducing changes distasteful to themsebes 

 and to others in sympathy with them. 



As to the present volume, so far as we have been able to 

 judge, the work is very complete and accurate, the type of 

 each genus and the method by which such types are 

 designated being indicated. All synonyms are given, at any 

 rate so far as Australian species are concerned, and in the 

 case of species and subspecies the type locality of each has 

 been carefully noted. It is therefore quite easy for any 

 worker to use this list, even if he does not approve of the 

 subdivision of the older species into a number of geographical 

 -races. At any rate we are nearer finality than we should be 

 if we adopted the system recently proposed by a committee 

 of the Royal Australian Ornithologists^ Union, recently 

 published in 'The Emu^ and reviewed in the last number of 

 ^The Ibis.' This is supposed to be based on the work 

 of Gould and on the ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British 

 Museum,^ and its adoption could only lead to the most 

 hopeless confusion. 



Mr. Mathews' Introduction contains a most useful history 

 of the progress of our systematic knowledge of Australian 

 birds, commencing from Gmeliu's work, published in 1788, 

 in which Latin names were given to a few birds described 

 under English vernacular names by Latham in his ' Synopsis.^ 

 These had been brought to England by the naturalists 

 attached to Captain Cook's ships during his famous voyages 

 of circumnavigation. 



In another section of the Introduction the zoogeographieal 

 relations of Australian birds are discussed. Mr. Mathews 

 draws attention to what he believes to be an antarctic 

 elenaent in the avifauna, and instances such genera as 



