344 
Fossil Bones 
dent that Gould has abandoned his intention of including this 
group in the present work; having no doubt found the materials 
from Australia much more abundant than he had at first antici¬ 
pated. This plan will render his work far less expensive, and 
much more agreeable to the majority of his subscribers, but at 
the same time will render it less complete In a scientific point of 
view ; since it ought to have embraced not only the birds of New 
Zealand, but also those of New Guinea. On the completion of 
the last part, we propose to give a continuation of these tables, 
as a small contribution to ornithological geography. One fact 
alone shows how much the natural history of the Australian pro¬ 
vince has advanced of late years. In 1836 the whole number of 
Raptorial birds known as inhabitants of it, including New Zea¬ 
land, was twenty-six. In the above tables we see that no less 
than twenty-eight species- have been already figured, excluding 
New Zealand. The total number of Insessorial or perching bird& 
figured is one hundred and eighty-six. In examining the five 
tribes into which this order is subdivided, we find Australian 
ornithology remarkably deficient in Dentirostres and Conirostres, 
as compared with the lists of European and North American 
birds, and rich in Fissirorstes, Tenuirostres, and Scansores; more 
especially in Tenuirostres, caused by the abundance of our honey- 
eaters. They stand as 
Fiss. 
follows: 
Ten. Dent. 
Con. 
Scan. 
Europe has.. 
.. 13 
8 113 
77 
12 in 503 species. 
N. America 
.. 15 
18 
95 
82 
20 in 471 species. 
Australia .. 
.. 21 
45 
09 
21 
30 in 287 figured species. 
Our published Rasorial birds already exceed those of America, 
and equal those of Europe ; being respectively 28, 22, and 28. 
In the orders of Grallatores and Natatores, we fall greatly behind. 
Art. XVI. On the Fossil Bones from Mount Macedon , Port 
Phillip . By E. C. Hobson, M.D. (with two plates.) In a 
letter dated June , 1845, addressed to Mr. R. C. Gunn. 
In a letter I recently received from Professor Owen, relative to the 
fossil bones I sent him from Port Phillip, that celebrated compa- 
