Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/758

Rh BIRDS [DISTRIBUTION. (Casuari-idce), 1 the richness and specialization of the King fishers (Alcedinidce), Parrots (Psittaci), and Pigeons (Co- lumltidce), its Birds-of -Paradise (Paradiseidce), Honeysuckers (Meliphagidce), and some remarkable Flycatchers (Musci- capidai). It has several marked deficiencies compared with Australia, among which are the Warblers (SylvUdce), Babblers (TimeliidcK), Finches or Weaver-birds (Fringillidoe or Plo- ceidce) according as we are disposed to treat those groups certain Parrots (Platycerdnas), and Diurnal Birds-of-Prey (Fcdconidae), and, above all, the Emeus (Dromaeidce). About 9 genera are especially Malayan, and nearly as many more have apparently the same origin, but, curiously enough, are not found in the intervening Moluccan province. Thus it will be seen that the avifauna of New Guinea is pre-eminently that of the Australian Region, and that it has many peculiar developments of Australian types ; but that there has also been an infusion of Malayan forms, of which one group is spread pretty uniformly over the whole Archipelago, if not beyond it ; while another group presents a rare instance of discontinuous distribution not appearing in an interven ing space of 1000 miles across, though that space is full of islands to all appearance habitable by such forms. The birds of Papua are, as a whole, remarkable for their brilliancy of plumage, one- half of the species occurring there being so distinguished, and no less than 12 genera are decorated by the metallic colouring of their feathers. The Birds-of-Paradise, the Racquet-tailed Kingfishers, the largest and smallest of the Parrot tribe, namely, Calypto- rhynchus and Nasiterna, and the great Crowned Pigeons (Gourd) are very characteristic among its productions. The chief dependencies of New Guinea require some little notice. These are the Aru Islands in the west, and New Britain and New Ireland in the east, with the Solomon Islands as still more distant outliers in the same direction, and the Louisiade group in the south. The first, sepa rated by 150 miles of sea from Papua, has over 100 species of Land-birds, of which, however, about four-fifths have been found also on the mainland ; but among those which are peculiar are two of the finest Paradiseidce one of them belonging to a distinct genus (Cidnnurus) and there is the very suggestive fact, as asserted, of two species of Casuarius occurring in the group. Of the ornitho logical features of New Britain and New Ireland not much is known, save that the former is inhabited by a species of Cassowary, and that both are intimately connected with New Guinea. The avifauna of the Solomon Islands is in some degree better understood, and 30 - well-authenticated 1 The importance which must be attached to the distribution of Katite as compared with Carinate birds, to say nothing of the interest ing fact that the known number of species of Casuarius has been raised from one to nine in the course of a very few years, makes it advisable here to give a list of the 9 species, with the localities (so far as they have been ascertained) they inhabit, as announced to the Zoological Society of London, 16th February 1875, by Mr Sclater, to whose courtesy the author owes the sight of a proof sheet of the communica tion : C. picticollis, Southern New Guinea. C. &eccarii,Vokan, Aru Islands. C. bicarunculatus, Aru Islands. C. australis, North Australia. C. bennetti, New Britain. A species of Cassowary has been said to occur in the Solomon Islands, and if so, one would think it likely to be distinct, but the only example alleged to have come from that group which has been examined proved to be C. bennelti. It would seem not at all unreasonable that in dividing the Papuan Subregion into provinces we should be guided by the distribution of this remaikable genus. In that case, not only would Ceram be an nexed to the Papuan province, but the Cape-York district severed from the Australian and added to the Papuan Subregion. - A.i stated in the preceding note, a Casuarius is said to be found in the Solomon Islands, and, however contrary to expectation, would seem to be of the same species as that which inhabits New Britain. C. galeatus, Ceram. C. papuanus, Northern New Guinea. C. wutermanni, Jobie Island. C. uniappendiculatus, New Guinea. species of Land-birds, with 1 peculiar Rail us, have been found there. Of those 30, ] G, or more than half, are known to be peculiar, while 3 more probably are so : 5 species occur in New Ireland as well ; 1 is common also to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, 1 to the Louisiade Archi pelago, and the remaining 4 have a wider distribution in the Papuan Subregion, to which unquestionably the group belongs. The Moluccan province, completing this Subregion and Moluccc consisting of many rather widely detached islands, which rrovinci lie for the most part between those forming the provinces already described, extends probably from Timor-leat in the south to the Sanguir group in the north, and includes the considerable islands of Ceram, Bouru, Gilolo, and Morty. About 200 species of Land-birds are now known from this province, and they may be assigned to over 80 genera. Of the species about 15 are common to the Indian region, but more than twice as many to the Papuan province, and some 140 are peculiar, of which the most significant are the Casuarius of Ceram. 3 Of the genera of Land-birds 2 only Semioptera, a remarkable Bird-of-Paradise, and Lycocorax, an aberrant Crow are peculiar ; but there is also in Gilolo a brevipennate genus of Rails (Habroptila) to which the same epithet will apply. One genus is common to Ceram and Celebes, and another is found in Australia, whence possibly it is a migrant, while 30 genera are charac teristic of the Papuan Subregion, and nearly 40 more, of more or less wide range, are found in and probably derived from New Guinea. Finally, there are some 12 genera which do not occur in New Guinea, and belong wholly or mainly to the Indian Region, but there are only 3 characteristically Indian types met with in the Moluccas, and all of them are there represented by distinct and well-marked species. The avifauna of the Moluccan province is therefore thoroughly that of the Papuan Subregion, and is no less clearly derivative from that of New Guinea, but not fewer than 11 forms of Birds-of-Paradise (Paradiseidce), with more than 12 other characteristically Papuan genera, are wanting, and therefore, in Mr Wallace s opinion, it would seem as though the province is not a fragment of any old Papuan territory, a supposition supported by the fact that most Moluccan birds are very distinct from their repre sentatives in New Guinea. Amongst the most character istic forms are the scarlet Brush-tongued Parrots (Lorius and Eos), found, it is believed, in every island of the group, but not in the Celebesian or Timorese provinces. One species of Eos from Siau and Sanguir intimates that those islands belong to the province. Eclectus, another scarlet Parrot, but belonging to a different family, also is equally characteristic with the Parrots just mentioned. As a rule, the birds of the Moluccan province are larger and more conspicuous than the allied species from neighbouring parts. On the whole, the avifauna of the Papuan Subregion Subregi presents some very remarkable features, but most of them must be here briefly treated by way of summary. Un questionably its most distinctive characteristic is to be found in the presence of the Birds-of-Paradise (Paradiseidce), which are almost peculiar to it; for, granting that the Bower-birds (Chlamydera and others) of Australia should be classed in this family, it must be admitted that they are very abnormal, or perhaps, to take firmer ground, that they are far less highly specialized than the beautiful and extraordinary forms which are found, and found only within very restricted limits, in the various islands of the Subregion. It would be easy, if space allowed, to dwell at length on the many points of interest with respect to those wonderful birds, though in truth we know but little of them. a See preceding footnotes.