THE AUSTRAL AVIAN 

 RECORD. 



Vol. III., No. 5. December 27th, 1917. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



A Mistake of Latham's . . . . . . . . 109 



Avian Nomenclatorial Notes . . . . . . 113 



Additions and Corrections to Mathews' List . . 127 



A MISTAKE OF LATHAM'S. 



HIS SO-CALLED SEA EAGLE FROM BOTANY ISLAND. 

 By L. Brasil, F.M.B.O.U. 



In those lines where Latham speaks of his Sea Eagle, it is 

 stated that the species " was also met with in Botany Island 

 by Captain Cooke" (Gen. Syn. Birds, Vol. I., p. 31, 1781). 



Now, Latham's Sea Eagle is, as every one knows, no other 

 than Haliaetus albicilla, a species so narrowly confined to the 

 northern hemisphere that the possibility of its being met with 

 in one of the islands of the South Seas is not to be conceded. 

 We find here, therefore, an obvious mistake which was bound 

 to be pointed out sooner or later. Sharpe did it. When he 

 drew up the list of the species mentioned by Latham as existing 

 in his time at the British Museum, Sharpe found, indeed, an 

 opportunity of incidentally expressing his opinion that the 

 accipitrine bird met with in Botany Island by the members of 



