DISTRIBUTION IN SPACE 109 



three species or one seems to be still a moot 

 point), the largest of existing avine forms, now 

 peculiar to the Ethiopian Region, from Arabia 

 southwards to the Cape Colony, although there 

 is evidence to show that their range once ex- 

 tended into the deserts of South-western Asia. 

 As might naturally be inferred these archaic birds 

 are all of comparatively restricted distribution — 

 last survivors as it were of once wide-spread 

 dominant groups, holding on to existence in a 

 few isolated spots, and sooner or later doomed 

 to pass completely away from the world, w^here 

 now they seem so quite out of place amongst 

 more highly organised Carinatae birds. 



Taking the twenty orders of Carinatae birds 

 in the same sequence as in the preceding 

 chapter, we have first to glance at the dis- 

 tribution of the Tinamous. These birds are 

 peculiar to the Neotropical Region, where they 

 range from Mexico southwards to the extreme 

 limits of Patagonia. Following these comes 

 the order containing the Penguins. These 

 birds are confined to the Southern Hemisphere, 

 where they may be said to range from the 

 Galapagos Islands on the Equator southwards 

 into the Antarctic regions as far as man 

 has yet explored. They are birds of the 



