356 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



yet seem to be cut off from all communication "wath their neigh- 

 bours. We may indeed account for this on the ground that the 

 similarity observed is due to corresponding elevation above the 

 sea-level, and that throughout the whole Eegion the hill-countries 

 are as a rule disconnected ; but such an explanation does not make 

 the task easier. We find the characteristics of the Himalayan 

 Avifauna shewing themselves not only on the highlands of Southern 

 India and Ceylon, but far away to the eastward also in Formosa, 

 Hainan, and Cochin China, and again repeated in a lesser but still 

 perceptible degree to the southward in the mountains of Malacca 

 and Sumatra. This being the case, it seems better to follow for 

 the primary divisions a scheme set forth by Mr. Elwes {Troc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1873, pp. 645-682), especially as in the main it has the approval 

 of Mr. W. T. Blanford,^ whose further subdivisions, so far as they 

 go, it would be wise to adopt. In this way we have three Sub- 

 regions — the "Himalo- Chinese," the "Indian" (proper), and the 

 "Malayan." 2 



The Himalo-Chinese Subregion, according to this view, 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 Bhotan, thence marching with the as yet 

 undetermined frontier of the Mongolian Province of the Palffiarctic 

 Subreo'ion until it reaches the coast of China. It includes all 

 Burma so far as the middle of Tenasserim, and for the rest its 

 southern and eastern boundaries are those of the Asiatic con- 

 tinent, while to its Chinese portion also belong the islands of 



^ The Fau7ia of British India. Mammalia. London: 1888. Introduction, 

 pp. iv. V. 



^ Here it may be stated that since want of space forbids the enumeration of 

 the many publications on the ornithology of the British possessions and pro- 

 tectorates in India, it would be still less possible to attempt a summary of the 

 results which they produce. No one wishing to study the Avifauna of any 

 portion of India can do so successfully without consulting the original records, 

 mostly published in that country. The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 

 (generally quoted as J. A. S. B.), the Calcutta Journal of Natural History, the 

 Madras Journal of Literature and Science have each contained many valuable 

 papers on Indian ornithology, while Stray Feathers, entirely devoted to that 

 subject, and edited by Mr. Allan Hume, is a magazine of whicli ten volumes and 

 a half have appeared since 1873. That gentleman also published in 1873-75 

 Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, of which a second and enlarged edition was 

 brought out in 1889-90 by Mr. Gates. Jerdon's Birds of India, the apj^ear- 

 ance of which, in 1862-64, gave new life to the study of ornithology in that 

 country, by consolidating the scattered work that had been before done, 

 is never to be mentioned but with respect, though in many ways it will be 

 superseded by the portion, begun by Mr. Gates, of The Fauna of British 

 India, mentioned in the preceding note. While mentioning all these, the 

 important contributions to Indian ornithology by Mr. Hodson and Blyth must 

 not pass unnoticed. 



