No. 4.] THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD 79 



THE RE-DISCOVERY OF TWO LOST BIRDS. 



By Gregory M. Mathews. 



Mr. Tom Carter, having occasion to return from England to 

 West Australia on business, agreed with me that it was a 

 fitting opportunity to make search for two birds collected 

 almost one hundred years ago and of which no specimens 

 existed. He undertook a thorough examination of the type 

 localities of these birds and his results further enhance his 

 great reputation as a field ornithologist, first brought under 

 notice by his splendid notes from Point Cloates and his 

 discovery of that peculiar endemic Australian genus Eremiomis 

 (carteri). Mr. Carter, who has now returned, proposes to detail 

 his experiences in another place later, and here I give the 

 technical history of the species with a short resume of 

 Mr. Carter's field notes. It is necessary to emphasize that 

 this is one of the great items of recent ornithological progress 

 in Australia. Macgillivray and McLennan's discovery of the 

 genera Lorius ( = Eclectus olim) and Geoffroyus, Captain 

 White's re-discovery of Gould's Xerophila pectoralis, and now 

 Mr. Carter's collection of Malurus textilis and leucopterus 

 form three striking events in the last few years. While the 

 first-mentioned is the most attractive the others are of even 

 more value from the scientific viewpoint of Australian 

 ornithology. While there may be new species still to be 

 discovered in Australia, there is little left now that is a 

 stumbling-block as the three last-mentioned were. 



The history of the two birds re-discovered by Mr. Carter is 

 fairly complex and until the original forms were re-determined 

 we were faced by an unsatisfactory position. This is now 

 for ever dispelled and Mr. Carter deserves all our thanks. 



When the French Expedition in the " Uranie " and 

 " Physicienne " voyaged round the world, they called at 

 Shark's Bay and then Port Jackson. Most energetic collectors 

 were attached whose names, Quoy and Gaimard, are now 

 familiar, but mostly from the results of their later Voyage 



