352. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



The " Mosambican " Pro^dnce next follows ; but its claims for 

 recognition are perhaps more shadowy than any of those of the 

 preceding. The general uniformity of distribution which obtains 

 among the Birds of all Tropical Africa, especially noticed by Sir 

 John Kirk {Ihis, 1864, p. 307) in treating of those of Zambesia, 

 requires more geographical details than are as yet available to 

 entitle us to form any decided opinion, though the work of Drs. 

 Finsch and Hartlaub {ut siiprb) gives ample information as to the 

 literature and description of the 448 species, which, according to 

 them, constitute its Avifauna. Considerable additions have been 

 made by Dr. Eeichenow {Orn. Centralhl. 1879, pp. 107, 114, 138, 

 155). Lying off its coast are three considerable islands, Pemba, 

 Zanzibar, and Monfia, but there is no reason to expect that they 

 are of any very great importance from a zoogeographical point of 

 view. Zanzibar is the best Icnowii, and that seems to have but one 

 species peculiar to it, Francolimis kirki, but further observation may 

 prove that it also occurs on the mainland. 



There remains for consideration the Subregion formed by 

 Madagascar and its satellite islands, the remarkable peciiliarities of 

 which fully deserve the attention that has been paid to them. 

 Except New Zealand, there is no part of the earth's surface of like 

 dimensions that can compare with Madagascar for interest, and the 

 latter far surpasses the former in the wealth and multifariousness 

 of its ornithic population. More than one high authority has 

 regarded Madagascar as forming a distinct primary Eegion, but 

 of that something must be said hereafter. It once possessed, in 

 jEpijornis, a form of Ratitm which, if not actually gigantic, greatly 

 exceeded the Ostrich in size, and, though some writers would fain 

 see in the fossil remains of this bird a realization of the fabulous 

 Roc, not a vestige has been recovered which seems to belong to any 

 period that history or even legend can reach ^ (see Fossil Birds). 



This Subregion is easily divided into two Provinces, Madagascar 

 itself, to which the Comoros must be attached, and the Mascarene 

 Islands, of which more presently. Long studied as the Birds of 

 Madagascar have been, the island has until quite recently produced 

 one novelty after another, and some of them of the most unexpected 

 kind. It would perhaps be premature to saj^ that the supply is 

 exhausted, but since the completion of the ornithological portion of 

 M. Grandidier's magnificent work^ little or nothing of importance 

 has come to light. Herein the authors enumerate 238 species as 

 belonging to the island, of which 129 are peculiar to it, and among 



1 Bianconi, Memorie delle Accad. dclle Scienze delV Istituto di Bologna, 1862- 

 1874. 



2 Histoire physique, naturelle et ■politique de Madagascar, vol. xii. Histoire 

 naturelle des Oiseaux par Mil. Alplionse Milue-Edwards et Alfred Graudidier. 

 Paris: 1875-84. 



