More Tabulated Facts

About New Guinea

AVERY valuable contribution to the geographical and historical records of New Guinea is con tained in Birds of Central New Guinea, by Ernst Mayr and E.

Thomas Gilliard.

It is described modestly as “Re sults of the American Museum of Natural History Expeditions to New Guinea in 1950 and 1952’’; but is more than a scientific compilation.

The authors have not only given in easily accessible detail a large amount of purely ornithological data; but, in arranging the back ground of their work they have pre pared, in both typographic and photographic form, a picture of Central New Guinea that commands high praise.

One learns, necessarily, a great deal about Highlands birds of which few of us ever suspected the exist ence; and one is also given a lot of fascinating natural history about the Highlands—the effect of the natives’ methods of cultivation, of the recent arrival of the Europeans, some interesting anthropological angles—in fact, anyone who keeps a reasonably complete library on New Guinea must have this book.

It is really a Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and it may be purchased for 2 dollars. There are over 100 large pages—and the repro duction of the large photographs is something one must see to believe.

Australia is under a debt of gratitude to this Museum and to Mr.

Tom Gilliard for the work that has been done over the past decade in making Central New Guinea better known, and in tabulating and arranging what is known. tl Goat meat from West Australia is selling in Fiji for 2/6 to 3/- per lb—which is 1/- under Fiji-grown goat-meat.