122 THE OENITHOLOGIST. 



these cannot be over-estimated, more especially as the department spares no 

 pains to place the information in the hands of those it is intended for. In 

 this country the economical side of ornithology is absolutely and invariably 

 ignored by the State, as may be expected when the literary work of its paid 

 ornithologists is looked upon as mere recreation, while its unpaid ornitho- 

 logists are allowed to starve, or do anything else they please. Possibly the 

 State thinks we know all that can be known about our British birds. 

 Perhaps we do about their skins, but the work of the field ornithologist (not 

 sportsman) seems to us to have only just commenced. 



In the recently published "Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific 

 Expedition to Central Australia" (London: Dulau, 1896), the bird skins 

 obtained during the expedition by Mr. G. A. Keartland are reported upon by 

 Mr. North, the ornithologist of the Australian Museum, Sydney. They are 

 referred to seventy-eight species, amongst which are five novelties already 

 described in The Ibis for 1895. Mr. Keartland's useful field-notes are given, 

 as also his remarks on twenty-two other species observed, but of which no 

 specimens were obtained. As a rule, the species belong to well-known 

 Australian genera. One of the most remarkable is the Alexandrine Para- 

 keet (Polytelis alexandras), described by Gould in 1863, of which little, 

 however, was known "until recently. This beautiful bird appears to be a 

 characteristic inhabitant of the Eremian district, and was met with in abun- 

 dance at Glen Edith. Mr. North has made a new genus of it — Spathopterus. 



ADDITIONS TO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S COLLECTION 



DURING JUNE. 

 A Roseate Cockatoo (Cacatua roseicapilla) from Australia, presented by 

 Stanley S. Flower, Esq. (Parrot House) ; a Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo 

 {Cacatua sulphurea) from Moluccas, presented by Stanley S. Flower, Esq. 

 (Parrot House) ; a Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) from Egypt, pre- 

 sented by Dixon Bey (Vulture Aviary) ; two Short-eared Owls (Asio brachy- 

 otus) from Ireland, presented by Capt. R. A. O^ilby, F.Z.S. (Owls' Cages) ; 

 a Vulturine Eagle {Aquilla verreauxi), from South Africa, presented by J. 

 Clark, Esq. (Vulture Aviary) ; six Upland Geese {Bernicla magellanica), 

 bred in the menagerie (Goose Paddocks) ; two Indian Drongos {Chibia 

 hottentota) from India, presented by Mrs. Firman (Western Aviary) ; five 

 Common Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carlo, jr.) from Isle of Mull, presented 

 by the Maclaine of Lochbuie (Fish House) ; one black-headed Conure 

 (Conurus nanday) from Paraguay, presented by Mrs. Baird (Parrot House) ; 

 two Common Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) (albinos) $ ? , from Transvaal, pre- 

 sented by F. A. Noyce, Esq. (Pheasantry) ; two West African Love-birds 

 (Agapornis pullaria), from West Africa, deposited (Parrot House) ; one Ring- 

 necked Parakeet (Palasornis torquatus) g, from India, presented by Miss 



