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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 6

[subsection]

The Avi fauna of Australia is considerable, though perhaps not so rich as that of other countries under the same latitude. Australia is famous for the beauty of her many parrots, over sixty species of which are found here; the honey-eaters are also numerous and varied in plumage, while bower-building satin birds, mound-raising Megapodes, and stately Emus, are peculiar to this favoured region. Game species abound; there are many pigeons, ducks, geese, plovers, and quail, and every bay or island along the coast-line is swarming with noisy seabirds. Some large groups are however altogether absent; we have no woodpeckers, no humming-birds, no Trogons, and few good songsters. Other handsome forms compensate in some measure for this loss. Numerous game and singing birds have been imported from other parts, and all thrive well, and thanks to laws for the protection of game during a few months of the year, there will always be good sport in the shooting season.

We cannot go into detail with our birds, and must refer students to Gould's Handbook, from which we extract a list of all the genera and species, with a revised habitat by Mr. George Masters.

The total number of species is about 690, which are distributed as follows:—
New South Wales 403
Queensland 442
Victoria 351
South Australia 313
West Australia 240
North Australia 236
Tasmania 162

Many of these species are however mere varieties of each other, but as new discoveries are constantly made, the number given as 670 will be tolerably correct.