nEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



37 



century or more by a succession of students in every part of the 

 country, who have vied with each other in detecting every rare or 

 accidental visitor to our shores. On the other hand, the ornithology 

 of the Japanese Empire has only been studied during the last half- 

 century, by a dozen visitors who have spent a month or two in a few 

 isolated spots, and by two or three residents who have occupied the 

 leisure of a busy life in the study of Zoology, of which the collection 

 of birds has only formed a branch. It is therefore fair to assume 

 that there are many of the rarer residents, or of the irregular 

 visitors, which have hitherto escaped detection in Japan ; and there 

 can be scarcely any doubt that new species remain to be discovered 

 on the islands which have not yet been explored. 



The birds of Japan do not differ very widely from the birds of the 

 British Islands. It would be very remarkable if they did. The 



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