154 Short JVotire.s of OrnHhvhuiical /'nhl/catioiu^. 



board at Aden, 14tli of April Cvracias ^jarrulns (European 

 Roller), in the Red Sea lOtli of A})ril Saxicola cenantlie 

 (European Wheatear), and 20th and 23rd of April Hirundo 

 rustica (European Swallow). On the 23rd Port Said was 

 reached, on May 5th Gibraltar, and on May 13th anchor 

 was dropped at Cowes. The cruise was over. 187 days had 

 been spent and 19,851 miles covered in the yacht. As 

 Mr. Nicoll says : " The most interesting voyage I have 

 ever made.'^ 



If it is at all permissible to generalize from the results of 

 Mr. Nicoll's visit to these East African Islands, it may 

 perhaps be remarked that the avifauna of these islands has 

 not, notwithstanding the comparatively large nund)er of 

 birds noticed thereon which are found at times in South 

 Africa, fundamentally very much close similarity to that of 

 our own limits. The Ethiopian Region — one of the six great 

 regions of the Globe into which the geographical area of 

 the distribution of birds is divided — embraces practically the 

 whole of Africa and includes Madagascar and its neigh- 

 bouring islands ; but this main region is tentatively divided 

 into four provinces : (1) Libyan, again divided into Arabian, 

 Egyptian, Abyssinian, and Gambian subprovinces ; (2) 

 Guinean, comprising what is familiarly known as the "West 

 Goast," roughly extending from Sierra Leone to the south of 

 the Congo valley ; (3) Caffrarian, roughly our own limits 

 and including St. Helena ; and (4) Mosambican or East 

 Coast, with a very well-marked Madagascar proN'ince or 

 suljregion. 



Madagascar by many is thought M'ell worthy of specific 

 Region rank, and no part of the w^orld exceeds this island in 

 the curiosities and peculiarities of its avifauna. With some 

 250 species, containing 35 or more s})ecific and jicculiar 

 genera and over 130 indigenous species, it is not sur})rising 

 that Madagascar is a puzzle. 



The islands in this neighbourhood visited by Mr. Nicoll 

 all, as might be expected, show much more affinity in their 

 avifauna to Madagascar than to our South African limits. 



