Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/130

 that similar results are derivable from the comparison of the birds of these countries.

The interesting problem, how has the Amazons Delta been formed? receives light through this comparison of Faunas. Although the portion of Guiana in question is considerably nearer Pará than are the middle and southern parts of Brazil, yet it is separated from it by two wide expanses of water, which must serve as a barrier to migration in many cases. On the contrary, the land of Brazil proper is quite continuous from Rio Janeiro and Bahia up to Pará; and there are no signs of a barrier ever having existed between these places within recent geological epochs. Some of the species common to Pará and Guiana are not found higher up the river where it is narrower, so they could not have passed round in that direction. The question here arises, has the mouth of the Amazons always existed as a barrier to migration since the present species of the contiguous regions came into existence? It is difficult to decide the question; but the existing evidence goes far to show that it has not. If the mouth of the great river, which, for a long distance, is 170 miles broad, had been originally a wide gulf, and had become gradually filled up by islands formed of sediment brought down by the stream, we should have to decide that an effectual barrier had indeed existed. But the delta of the Amazons is not an alluvial formation like those of the Mississippi and the Nile. The islands in its midst and the margins of both shores have a foundation of rocks, which lie either bare or very near the surface of the soil. This is especially the case towards the sea-coast. In ascending the