species than actually occur or have occurred in the Swan River district. Many of the species found throughout the rest of Australia are either entirely absent from the South-West or have been met with only occasionally in this large region, whilst a considerable proportion of the species which occur in the SouthWest are either confined to the interior districts or are limited to the country near the south coast.
It has often been a matter of surprise to me that there are practically no accounts to be found of the birds which occur in the neighbourhood of the principal cities of the Commonwealth. North's "Birds of County Cumberland (Sydney)" and Belcher's "Birds of Geelong" are, I think, the only exceptions. If we add to these Carter's "Birds of the North-West Cape" and Berney's "Birds of the Richmond District, North Queensland," we shall almost exhaust the list of works on the avifauna of particular districts of Austraha written by men who have been residents in the districts concerned.
The writer was from 1912 to 1920 on, the staff of the Western Australian Museum in Perth as biologist. For nearly three years (from 1916 to 1919), however, he was absent from Perth, so that he can only claim to have been observing the birds about Perth for five years. As he has now left Western Australia, he thinks it may meet with the approval of Australian ornithologists if he attempts to place on record his views as to the status of the species found in the area which he knows best.
II.—Bibliography.
In compiling these notes the writer has supplemented his own observations by adding records of all specimens from the district, in the collection of the Western Australian Museum, of species he has not met with. He has also utilized information previously published, but this is comparatively scanty. The following is, as far as he is aware, a complete bibliography of ornithological articles on the Perth district: —
"Notes on Lake Yanchep," by A. W. Milligan, Emu, vol. iii., p. 20, 1903.
"Notes from Guildford, W.A.," by H. E. Hill, Emu, vol. iii., p. 226, 1904.
"A Visit to Rottnest Island, W.A.," by F. Lawson Whitlock, Emu, vol. iv., p. 129, 1905.
In addition, records of observations of a few species in the neighbourhood of Perth will be found in Gould's "Handbook to the Birds of Australia" and Campbell's "Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," as well as in the following papers:—
" List of Birds Collected by the Calvert Exploring Expedition," by G. A. Keartland, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Australia, xxii., p. 125, 1898.
"List of Birds Collected in Western Australla," by E. Ashby, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Australia, xxv., p. 132, 1901.
