80 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



noticed *. It is a systematic list of the Mammals and Birds of 

 the coast of the Red Sea and Somali-land, partly derived from 

 the observations of former travellers, Riippell, Hemprich, Ehren- 

 berg, and Speke, and partly from the notes and collection made 

 by V. Heuglin himself during his several expeditions into these 

 regions. This catalogue has been drawn up with particular re- 

 ference to the range of the species, not only horizontally, but 

 also vertically above the sea-level, and will prove of service not 

 only to future explorers in this country, but to the general stu- 

 dent of geographical distribution — a most important branch of 

 natural history, generally much neglected by scientific travellers. 

 The migration of birds within the tropics is also a subject on 

 which very little is as yet known or understood by naturalists, 

 and on which a continued series of observations, such as those 

 made by von Heuglin, would no doubt throw much light. 



The Red- Sea Fauna, according to von Heuglin, by no means 

 forms a distinct zoological province, but embraces in its area 

 parts of two different zones. The northern portion of it, taking 

 the whole as extending from 30° to 18^ north lat., is outside the 

 boundary of the tropical rain-season, which begins at about 16° 

 north lat., and is thus very distinct from the southern portion. 

 The western side of this northern portion is ^Egypto-Nubian in 

 character, but, owing to the want of fresh water and vegetation, 

 much poorer in individuals ; the eastern side, embracing Arabia 

 Petrsea, is more peculiar, containing a mixture of European or 

 Asiatic types, but overwhelmed by African species. The southern 

 portion of the Red-Sea Fauna [i. e. that below the line of 16° north 

 lat.) falls within the range of the tropical rainy season, and is so 

 closely allied to the West-African Fauna, that but very few of 

 the West-African types are unrepresented within it. There is, in 

 fact, little doubt that a broad band of country, traversing Africa 

 from coast to coast north of the equator, has as nearly uniform 

 zoological as we believe it has botanical characters. 



The total number of species of birds enumerated by v. Heu- 

 glin as appertaining to the Red- Sea Fauna is 325, namely — 



* Th. V. Heuglin's Forschungen iiber die Fauna des Rothen Meeres 

 und der Somali-kiiste. Petermaun's Geogr. Mitth. 1861, pp. U ei seqq. 



