A KEY TO THE BIRDS 



OF THE 



LOWER YANGTSE VALLEY 



BY 



N. GIST GEE, SOOCHOW UNIVERSITY 



AND 



LACY I. MOFFETT, KIANGYIN. 



INTRODUCTION. 



China, judged from the standpoint 

 of its bird population falls into three 

 great regions — North, West and South. 

 The Yangtse Eiver fornas a convenient 

 dividing line between the North and 

 South, while the Western zone 

 includes Thibet and the western part of 

 Szechuan Province down to Ichang. 



The Northern zone has about 40 

 species of birds peculiar to itself, the 

 Western zone has about 60, and the 

 Southern zone has about 150, making 

 a total of approximately 250 ' birds 

 peculiar to China. 



In addition to these, there are about 

 550 species found in China and also in 

 other parts of the world. Of these, 

 some 300 occur in the Palearctio 

 Eegion, which covers Europe and Asia 

 north of a line skirting the Himalayas 

 and the Yangtse ; while about 250 

 species are common to China and 

 Southern Asia and are not to be found 

 elsewhere. 



