122 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. IV. 



the dra-wdngs of Colonel Davies." Mathews has discussed 

 this in the Birds of Austraha, as Kerr had named this variety 

 Psittacus hcematotus daviesianus. 



However, it may be concluded that General Davies was one 

 of the foremost and most enthusiastic of the early ornitho- 

 logists, as we find Latham continually referring to General 

 Davies in connection with other birds, which he had even 

 collected himself as : " This was brought from Quebec, by 

 General Davies, in 1790 " occurs more than once, while a 

 reference also occurs to Gibraltar. 



We have not yet attempted to work out the hfe-history of 

 General Davies, but the preceding remarks will show the 

 interest of this old-time ornithologist, who, because he was no 

 describer, has suffered neglect so that his name is scarcely 

 known. Again, we have no vahd trace of the identity of the 

 artists who made these careful paintings of the objects of 

 natural history of tliis new country, and yet who failed to 

 sign their work. If this memo serves to keep alive the interest 

 in these forgotten workers it wiU please us ; and we should 

 apologise for stating that this note has not been written for 

 our own advertisement, as suggested by a recent critic who 

 also stigmatised the drawings, without having seen them, 

 as " crude sketches made by a convict." 



Year for year, the paintings are excellent first-class work 

 and the artists, whoever they were, had reason to be proud 

 of their success in dehneating the objects they attempted. 



We have just remembered that the present scientific name 

 of the Gang Gang Cockatoo also stands to the credit of General 

 Davies as recorded in Mathews's Birds of Australia, Vol. VI., 

 pt. 2, p. 155, 1917, as when Grant S.gured Psittacus fi7nbriatus 

 he stated that the plate was reproduced from a design from 

 the elegant pencil of Major-General Davies of the Royal 

 Artillery, to whom Governor King presented the preserved 

 specimen. 



