DISTRIBUTION IN SPACE 117 



Mesites. Both these are of somewhat local distri- 

 bution, although in the former their geographi- 

 cal area can only be described as enormous, 

 extending from the Neotropical Regions across 

 the Ethiopian Region to parts of the Oriental 

 Region (Burma, Assam, Malacca) ; whilst the 

 latter, consisting of two species only, is confined 

 to Madagascar. As a group the Rails are practi- 

 cally cosmopolitan, although many of the sub- 

 families and genera are confined to restricted 

 areas. The Typical Rails, the Crakes, Typical 

 Gallinules, and the Coots are distributed over 

 most parts of the earth ; the Purple Gallinules 

 are most numerous perhaps in the Oriental and 

 Australian Regions, although represented in the 

 Neotropical and Ethiopian Regions, as well as in 

 South Europe ; the Weka Rails are an avine 

 feature of New Zealand ; the curious Ypecaha 

 Rails are exclusively Neotropical : other genera 

 are distributed over various islands in the Pacific. 

 One of the most widely ranging of Ralline birds 

 is the familiar Corncrake of our own English 

 meadows. 



Yet another wide-ranging cosmopolitan group 

 has now to be considered, the Galliformes, or 

 Game Birds, and various allied forms. Perhaps 

 no other order of birds is more cosmopolitan in 



