380 ISLAND LIFE 



Tetraonid^ (Grouse, &c. ). 



105. BambusicoLa hyperytlira. I 107. Hsematortyx sangiiiniceps. 



106. ' ,, erythroplirys. | 



RALLiDiE (Rails). 

 108. Rallina rufigenys. | 



Representative forms of the same character as those noted 

 above are found in all extensive continental areas, but they 

 are rarely so numerous. Thus, in Mr. Ehves' paper on the 

 "Distribution of Asiatic Birds," he states that 12'5 per 

 cent, of the land birds of Burmah and Tenasserim are 

 peculiar species, whereas we find that in Borneo they are 

 about 25 per cent., and the difference may fairly be 

 imputed to the greater proportion of slightly modified 

 representative species due to a period- of complete 

 isolation. Of peculiar genera, the Indo-Chinese Pen- 

 insula has one — Ainpeliceps, a remarkable yellow-crowned 

 starling, with bare j^ink-coloured orbits ; while two others, 

 Temnurus and Crypsirhina — singular birds allied to the 

 jays — are found in no other part of the Asiatic contir.ent 

 though they occur in some of the Malay Islands. Borneo 

 has seven peculiar genera of passeres,^ as well as 

 Hasmatortyx, a crested partridge; and Lobiophasis, a 

 pheasant hardly distinct from Euplocamus ; while two 

 others, Pityriasis, an extraordinary bare-headed bird 

 between a jay and a shrike, and Carpococcyx, a pheasant- 

 like ground cuckoo formerly thought to be peculiar, are 

 said to have been discovered also in Sumatra. 



The insects and land-shells of Borneo and of the sur- 

 rounding countries are too imperfectly known to eniblo us 

 to arrive at any accurate results with regard to their distri- 

 bution. They agree, however, with the birds and mammals 

 in their general approximation to Malayan forms, but the 

 number of peculiar species is perhaps larger. 



The proportion here shown of less than one -fourth 

 peculiar species of mammalia and fully one-fourth peculiar 

 species of land-birds, teaches us that the possession of the 

 power of flight affects but little the distribution of land- 



^ These are Allocotops, Chlorocliaris, Aii(lro])]iilus, and Ptilopyga. 

 among the Timeliidie ; Tricophoropsis and Oreoctistes among the Brachy- 

 podidre ; Chlamydochcera among the Campophagidce. 



