175 
Vol. XXIV. 
1925. 
] 
LEACH, Naming Australian Birds 
drawings was responsible for erratic generic grouping. Some 
Latham names await finality. Our Committee used flabelliformis 
(Fantail Cuckoo), rubricata (Rock-Warbler), and fascinans 
(Jacky Winter). Mathews rejected these as being indetermin¬ 
able. Mathews accepted atricapillus (Brown-headed Honey- 
eater), melanocephala (Noisy Miner), and orientalis (Little 
Friar-Bird) ; the Committee, as these had been applied to other 
birds, considered them indeterminable. Compromise is needed 
here. 
These paintings have been called the “Watling drawings/' 
Thomas Watling was a convict who in 1792 painted birds about 
Sydney for Surgeon White. Mathews has recently shown that 
there are two sets of drawings: (1) a set previously owned by 
Lambert and used by Latham, and (2) a second set deposited 
in the British Museum and described by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe. 
PART II.—FROM LATHAM TO GOULD. 
Space will not permit mention of several authors with one, 
two, or even three names each. Exception must be made of 
Lewin (1808), who prepared the first work on birds published in 
Australia. His drawings and plates were excellent. He gave 
Meliphaga (Honeyeaters) and chrysocephalus (Regent Bower- 
Bird). Savigny (1809) named three widely ranging Hawks in 
a work on Egyptian birds. Illiger (1811) was a “purist." He 
objected to “barbarous" names—a mixture of Greek and Latin 
roots—and would discard such. That is not permitted; a name 
once given cannot be altered. He gave Pachyptila (Prions) ; 
Burhinus (Southern Stone Curlew) ; Peso poms (Ground Par¬ 
rot), and Centropns for our non-parasitic Cuckoos. 
THE WORK OF VIEILLOT. 
In April, 1816, Vieillot, a “brilliant ornithologist," published 
rlnalyse d f une Nouvelle Ornithologic elementaire. Linnseus 
(1758), used 63 genera for the world's birds; Brisson (1760), 
115; Linnaeus (1766), 104; and some were named later. Vieillot 
(1816), used 273 genera; fifteen of his new genera are on our 
list; seven are applied to well-known Australian birds. Emu, 
Shrike-tits, Blue-Wrens, Peewee, Pardalotes, Honeyeaters ( Meli- 
tlireptus ), and Friar-Birds he named generically. Unfortunately, 
the value of this small book of 70 pages was not realised. 
Cuvier’s reputation as a comparative anatomist was, perhaps, 
responsible, and when he published Le Regne Animal (The 
Animal Kingdom) in December, 1816, his names were used and 
Vieillot's were neglected. In the 36 volumes of La Nouvelle 
Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle , Vieillot gave two generic, 
Podargus (Frogmouth) and Manorina (Bell Miner), and 25 
specific names. He totals 50 (18 generic and 32 specific) names 
on our list. Some birds described bv him had already been named 
by Latham. 
