Recently published Ornithological Works. 149 



Tribonyx and Cereopsis as having an antarctic origin. To 

 prove this, however^ it is necessary to postulate considerable 

 changes in the distribution of land and water^ and great 

 alterations of climate in tertiary times, and at present there 

 seems to be hardly enough evidence of this. There seems 

 to be no reason to reject the hypothesis that the Australian 

 avifauna originally reached the continent from the north, 

 but at so long a period ago that it has become profoundly 

 modified. 



Hedley and Spenser recognize three faunal regions in 

 Australia — the Eyrean, the Bassian, and the Torresian. Of 

 these the Torresian includes most of the Northern Territory 

 and Queensland ; the Bassian, Victoria, coastal New South 

 Wales, and Tasmania; and Eyrean, Western and Southern 

 Australia and the dry central regions. These faunal divisions 

 of the Australian continent are touched on by Mr. Mathews, 

 who also points out the significance of island faunas, and 

 that similar ^' island faunas '"' occur within the continent, 

 such as the Mallee country on the borders of Victoria and 

 New South Wales and the Bellenden Ker Range of Queens- 

 land, where the avifauna differs in a most remarkable way 

 from that of the surrounding districts. 



No worker in Australian ornithology can afford to pass 

 over this laborious and painstaking volume, and we should 

 like to congratulate not only the author but the publisher 

 on the excellent manner in which the volume has been 

 produced. 



Mearns on new African Birds. 



[Descriptions of four new African Thrushes of the Genera Pl'anesticus 

 and Oeocichla, by Edgar A. Mearns. Smiths. Miscell. Coll. vol. 61, 

 no. 10, 1913, pp. 1-5. 



Descriptions of six new African birds. Id^ ibid. no. 11, 1913, pp. 1-5. 



Descriptions of five new African Weaver-birds of the Genera Othy- 

 phantes, Hypargos, Aide^nosyne, and Layonosticta. Id. ibid. no. 14, 1913, 

 pp. 1-5.] 



These new species and subspecies were all obtained in 

 east or north-east Africa, some by the author when with 

 Col. Roosevelt in his celebrated journey from British East 



