23 [Vol. xi. 



north of Panama we have in the " Birds " of the ' Biologia 

 Centrali- Americana' an excellent account of our knowledge 

 of this Avifauna as far as the Accipitres. 



All over South America much good work has been done 

 of late years in nearly every part of its wide extent, and a 

 new feature in the scientific history of the Continent is the 

 publication in Brazil of important essays on the Avifaunas 

 of these countries by Dr. von Iliering and Dr. Goeldi. In 

 the highlands of Peru and Bolivia, however, although so 

 much has been already done, fresh novelties are sure to be 

 met with in the unvisited valleys ; and the eastern frontiers 

 of Colombia and Ecuador still deserve further attention. 

 There is, in fact, much hard work to be accomplished by 

 patient research carried out in nearly every part of this 

 Region. To those who may be tempted to take short trips 

 to South America I should recommend a visit to the Sierra 

 de Cordova (easily accessible by rail from Buenos Ayres) 

 and to the adjoining ranges to the north. Or a run over 

 the ocean to Para; but instead of going up the Amazons, 

 it would be better for the ornithologist to search the hill- 

 country south of Para, and hunt up Pipra opalizans and 

 other little-known species confined to that district, which 

 has never been properly explored. Field-notes on South- 

 American birds are still greatly to be desired. 



We greatly appreciate, however, the recent additions to 

 the Avifauna of Ecuador made by Mr. Goodfellow and 

 Dr. Festa, the latter having formed the subject of a memoir 

 by our old friend Count Salvadori. The British Museum 

 has also received important collections from Ecuador, Peru, 

 and Bolivia from Mr. P. 0. Simons, and of these we are 

 promised descriptions shortly by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe. 



VI. The Australian Region. 



The wealth of bird-life in the Australian Region is appa- 

 rently inexhaustible. Of the Avifauna of Australia itself 

 we have indeed a fair knowledge — thanks mainly to the 

 energy of John Gould and his disciples. But in the other 

 Subregions there is still a large residue of bird-work to be 



