Opinions on the Birds of Australia (continued from overleaf). 



IBIS. 



1912, p. 197. We congratulate Mr. Mathews on the successful 

 issue of this instalment of his arduous task, and on the continued 

 excellence of the text and plates. 



1912, p. 673. These parts of Mr. Mathews' work include the 

 majority of the Australian Procellariiform.es or Petrels ; and, apart 

 from the excellence of the plates and the life-histories of the birds, 

 where they are known, are of great importance to all who are interested 

 in the correct identification of the members of this admittedly difficult 

 group. 



In the first place, the Author has been fortunate enough to rediscover 

 at the British Museum the original manuscript of Dr. Solander. The 

 value of this discovery can* hardly be over-estimated. Mr. Mathews 

 now gives us exact copies of all these diagnoses and this enables us to 

 make up our minds on many doubtful points and to check the work 

 of later authors. But this is not the only boon that he has conferred 

 on workers at the group. He proceeds to review the authorities on 

 the Order from the earliest monograph by Latham to the latest by 

 Dr. Godman, and to show the connection of Latham's descriptions 

 with the Banksian drawings and J. R. Forster's work, which is the 

 more necessary as the former does not seem to have had access to 

 Solander's notes. 



J UK. 



1911, p. 504. The work is emphatically revisionary as regards 

 questions of nomenclature and the status of forms belonging to the 

 Australian avifauna. 



1912, p. 124. The first volume warrants the liberal praise 

 bestowed upon Part I., as regards the character of both the text and 

 plates. 



1912, p. 550. The high standard set in Volume I. is maintained 

 in the parts before us, both plates and letterpress being beautifully 

 executed, while the history, synonymy and relationship of the various 

 species are treated at length. 



Taken all together these parts of Mr. Mathews' work constitute 

 one of the most important contributions to our knowledge of the 

 Procellariiformes that has yet appeared. 



1 9 1 3, p. 1 24. Parts 3 and 4 of the Second Volume of Mr. Mathews' 

 great work are before us, and testify to the energy with which the 

 publication is being carried on. In style these parts are similar to those 

 that have preceded them, and they are fully up to the high standard 

 that characterised the First Volume. 



