yo A HISTORY OF BIRDS 



aberrant Tit, and the strange Pink-headed Duck {Rhodonessa 

 caryophyllacea) also belong to this region, and are met with 

 nowhere else. 



Nevertheless, when the fauna is studied as a whole more 

 or less distinctly defined zoogeographical areas can be made 

 out, though as to their number and boundaries authorities 

 differ. Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, for instance, recognises no less than 

 five Sub-regions, while the late Professor Newton admitted but 

 three — -the Himalo-Chinese, the Indian (proper), and the Indo- 

 Malayan. In the first and last, as may readily be perceived, 

 Chinese and Malayan species respectively are conspicuous. 



The Himalo-Chinese Sub-region includes the southern slopes 

 of the Himalayas, from their base to the limit of the growth of 

 trees, and beginning with Cashmere extends through Nepal 

 and Bhutan, thence to the coast of China. It includes all 

 Burma as far as the middle of Tennasserim, and for the rest its 

 southern and eastern boundaries are those of the Asiatic 

 Continent, while to the Chinese portion belong the islands of 

 Hainan and Formosa. 



This great sub-region is to be regarded as the great centre 

 of distribution of the Pheasants, which include a number 

 of striking though generally unfamiliar forms. For the most 

 part strange in appearance, and often of marvellous beauty, 

 they deserve more space than can be allotted them in these 

 pages. It would be impossible, however, to do them justice in 

 anything less than a monograph, and after all, this chapter is 

 mainly concerned with the distribution of the various types of 

 birds, and the relation which this distribution bears to the sub- 

 ject of evolution. The number of Pheasant-like birds which 

 occur in this region, and are confined to this region, is remark- 

 able ; and not the least noticeable fact is the conspicuous 

 place which the Himalayas hold as a distribution centre. A 

 large proportion of the genera now to be enumerated is to be 

 met with here. Here, for example, are to be found the curious 

 Blood-pheasants {Ithagenes), and from thence they may be 

 traced to the allied chains of mountains in North-West China. 

 They are forest birds, living at a great altitude near the snow- 

 line. The wonderful Horned-pheasants of the Genus Tragopan 

 are met with both in the Himalayas and in the hills of Assam 

 and South-East China; while the marvellously beautiful 



