I 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
tlie same words as Sharpe had used that the differences were due to age. 
Eleven years later North distinguished the Cape York bird as a distinct species 
on account of its much smaller size. The succeeding year I added in my 
“Reference List” a fourth subspecies; I considered North’s “species” only 
. a subspecies, separating the Victorian bird. In my List I conservatively 
suppressed the last race, but I here reinstate it as it is readily recognisable 
when series are compared. I have also recently added 
“ Dacelo gigas watsoni 
Differs from D. g. mclennani North, in being darker above, the brown markings 
on the tail being conspicuous ; the dark marking below the eye is narrower. 
Watson River, North Queensland.” 
Consequently we find a series from south to north almost regularly 
decreasing in size as they go northwards. I recognise 
Dacelo gigas tregellasi (Mathews). 
Victoria ; South Australia. 
Dacelo gigas gigas (Boddaert). 
New South Wales ; South Queensland. 
Dacelo gigas minor (Robinson). 
North Queensland (Cooktown). 
Dacelo gigas watscmi (Mathews). 
North Queensland (Watson River District). 
Dacelo gigas mclennani (North). 
North Queensland (Cape York). 
Introduced and apparently now established in Tasmania and West Australia, 
I hope definite items of the introduction into these places wfil be correctly 
recorded and also the localities whence the birds were procured. In years to 
come these would be valuable were the birds to show differences. This is 
here commented upon, as recent records show that acclimatisation has a 
strong tendency to alter, subspecifically, birds recently introduced, and the 
West Australian introduction should show quickly such differences, while 
Tasmania is just as likely to indicate the rapid results of environment. I 
am much averse to such experiments, but am strongly of opinion that when 
they are initiated responsibility should also be undertaken for the correct 
reporting of all the circumstances surrounding such events as locality whence 
birds came, age, sex, number of birds, time of year, etc. Then year by year 
notes should be made in connection with the growth of the colony, habits, 
etc., as the latter commonly alter under the new environment. 
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