Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/781

Rh INDIAN REGION.] B I E D S 7G3 confined to India, 37 to genera common to tropical Africa and India, 8 to genera of Ethiopian type, and 53 to purely Indian genera. u Pursuing our way southward we come to the Deccan or table-land of India, and our information respecting its ornis chiefly rests on the catalogue given by Sykes many years ago, 1 which only contains about 150 species of Land-birds, of which about 105 belong to genera common to the Himalayan and Malayan Subregions, 27 to Himalayan but not Malayan genera, 30 to genera having Ethiopian or Palnsarctic affinity, and the rest to widely-ranging genera or to genera peculiar to the Indian Subregion. rn The avifauna of Southern India seems to be small rela tively to the extent and variety of the country, and most of its peculiar species are said to have a considerable range of latitude, though some, which are restricted to the highest hills, are only found to the southward of lat. 12 N., where several mountain-ranges reach the height of 8000 feet. O O No single comprehensive list of the Birds of this part of India seems lately to have been put together, and Mr Elwes gives us no statistics as the result of his investigations whereby we may compare its ornithic products with those of other districts. Ceylon has profited by the residence of several com petent naturalists especially Mr Layard and Mr Holds- worth, and taking also its isolation into account, we are in a position to speak of this island with greater certainty than of the preceding portions of the Subregion. The latter of these gentlemen gives a list 2 numbering 323 species, of which 224 are Land-birds, and an analysis shews that, though 37 species are peculiar, only 4 belong to genera not found in Southern India, 22 belong to genera inhabit ing the Himalaya but not the Malayan Subregion, and only 6 to Malayan but not Himalayan genera, while 14 are members of genera only found in India. in (3.) The Malayan Subregion is the last of which we have ion. to treat, and we have already hinted that it possibly has a connection with the Indian through the Nicobar Islands, but of course the most intimate communication between the two exists on the mainland. The birds of its con tinental portion, the Malay Peninsula, have never formed ula. the subject of a separate memoir, and to compile a com plete list of them at present is a task which a more com petent author has found impossible. Stoliczka has given us a catalogue 3 of 95 species obtained in the Wellesley Province, lying opposite to Penang, and numerous species have been constantly described by various authors as coming from Malacca or Singapore, which in most cases probably means that the specimens have been purchased at one of those places. To enter into any details with respect to the Malay Peninsula, therefore, would here be impos sible, but the case is different as regards the islands which form the greater part of the Subregion. The Philippines, for more than a century, have supplied European ornithologists with materials of study, yet it is little more than ten years ago that any attempt to compile a complete list of their Birds was made, and that list, by Dr von Martens, 4 was manifestly imperfect. It is only since the present article was begun that a satisfactory account of their avifauna has appeared. This is the work of Lord Walden, 5 and we here avail ourselves of the results which he has so ably set forth. He enumerates 219 species, of which 150 are Land-birds; but in consequence 1 I roc. Zool. Soc. 1832, pp. 77, 149 O/; cit., 1872, pp. 404-483. 3 Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, pp. 277-334. This, however, must not be read without referring to Lord Walden s remarks on it (IUs. 1871, pp. 158-177). 4 Journal fur Ornithologie, 1866, pp. 5-31 6 Transactions of the Zoological Society, ix. pp. 125-252. of the caution he has exercised, it is most probable that this number is really too small. Of these, 106 species are peculiar to the archipelago 96 of them being Land-birds. There is no species, he remarks, which is common to the Philippines and the neighbouring island of Celebes which does not also possess a more extended range, and there is only one genus Prionituriis, a very singular form of Psit- taci common to both and yet found nowhere else. The genera peculiar to the group are 1 1 in number Pseudolalage belonging to Campephagidce, Zcocephus to Muscicapidve, Rliabdornis to Certhiidce, Sarcops to Sturnidce, Penelopides to Biicerotidce, Dasylophus and Lepidogrammus to Cucu- lidce, Pseudoptynx to Strigidce, Phabotreron and Ptilocolpa to Columbidce, and Amaurornis to Rallidce. There is also only 1 species common to one of the Philippines the island of Negros and to one other island. This is Xaniholcema rosea, which is also found in Java, and seems to be the representative of the widely-spread X. hcematocephala, which ranges over India, Malacca, and Sumatra, but is not found either in Java or Negros. It will thus be seen that the amount of peculiarity exhibited by the avifauna of the Philippines is very great, but it must be observed that hardly anything is as yet known of Palawan or the Sooloo cluster islands which connect the Philippines with Borneo. Borneo is the next island to which our attention should be Borneo, directed, and this magnificent country, large enough as Mr Wallace has remarked for the whole of the United Kingdom to be set down in its midst and hidden, has lately had its avifauna carefully investigated by Dr Salvadori, the result of whose labours was published in 1874. 6 The following may be given as a summary of them. There are 392 species, of which 325 are Land-birds, 27 belonging to the Order Accipitres, 4 to Psittaci, 99 to Picarice, 172 to Pas- seres, 14 to Co! ;mbce, and 9 to Gallina?. Yet there are only 3 unquestionably peculiar genera 7 Pityriasis, a most singular form, doubtfully referred to Laniidce, Schwaneria belonging to Muscicapidce, and Heterococcyx to Cuculidce. There are 58 or 59 peculiar species, all but 1 Land-birds, and at least 25, or perhaps as many as 32, which have no representatives elsewhere. Of Land-birds Borneo has, in common with Malacca and Sumatra, 226 species ; in com mon with Java, 149 ; with the Philippines, 25 ; with the Indian Subregion, 53 ; with China, 72 ; and with Celebes, 28. A species of Megapodius (M. cumingi] is found in Borneo and also in the Philippines, 8 and its presence in both, like that of a member of the same genus in the Nicobars already noticed, is a very remarkable fact. The comparatively little-known island of Banca, lying Banca. between Borneo and Sumatra, produces 2 peculiar species of Pittidce, the one representing a species which inhabits the whole Subregion and extends to China and Siam, the other allied to two species, the first ranging from Nepal to Malacca, and the second inhabiting the Philippines, Borneo, and Sumatra. 9 Sumatra must be considered next, or perhaps it ought Sumatra to have been taken after Malacca, from which it is divided by so narrow a channel. The greater part of this island, its northern half especially, is unknown, and not more than 240 species can be assigned to it, of which about 20 appear to be peculiar. Its avifauna is much allied to that 6 Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Geneva, r. pp. 1-430. 7 A reputed fourth, Anais, referred to Artamidce, is suspected to be founded on a manufactured specimen ! Lobiophasis, since established by Mr Sharpe (Ann. and Jfag. Nat. Hist. Ser. 4, xiv. p. 373), and belonging to Phasianidce, probably makes another. 8 Mr Sharpe, however, considers the species distinct (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1875, p. 111). 9 But on this point compare Mr Hume s remark (Stray Feathers, ii. p. 475).