Handbuch der Systematischen Ornithologie 29 



The intellectual or psychic qualities of the birds are neither 

 anthropomorphised nor considered to be merely reflexive. 

 The brain activity of birds is stated not to differ from human 

 thinking in quality but only in quantity. Attention is called 

 to the fact that the young bird will build its nest as carefully 

 as the old one, but on the other hand, the young bird learns 

 to know danger and perfects his song by imitating older ones. 

 Wc incline to the opinion that of the four essential qualities 

 of human brain activity, i. e., conception, memory, perception 

 and language, birds certainly have a conception of things and 

 memory, and this explains the imitative ability, but that the 

 bird lacks perception and language. At times it seems as if 

 birds do have a perception of things, e. g., the Crow, but upon 

 closer investigation we will find in the majority of cases it 

 is only a matter of conception and memory. 



The Faunas (10 or 11 in number) as given are: 



1. A North Pole Fauna. Characteristic forms are the 

 Alcidae, Colymbidae, Stercorariidae, the genera Rissa, Xema, 

 Pagophila and Rodostethia ; some species of Ducks and 

 Tringidae, Lagopus, Falco, Nyctea and Passerina. 



2. The South Pole Region. Characteristic forms : Sphenis- 

 cidae, Procellariidae, a few Terns, Ducks, the Sheathbills 

 (Chionidae) and but one land bird, Anthus antarcticus. 



8. The Palaearctic Region, with no peculiarly characteristic 

 forms. 



4. The African Region, south of the 20th parallel north lat- 

 itude. Characteristic forms : Families Scopidae, Balaenicipi- 

 dae, Musophagidae, Coliidae and Struthionidae. This region is 

 also the center of abundance of many other forms, as the 

 Larks, Bustards, Weaverbirds, Vultures and others. 



5. The Madagascar Region, characterized by the Mesitidae 

 and many peculiar genera of Parrots, Cuckoos and Oscines. 



6. The Indian Region, characterized by the Pheasants, Pea- 

 fowls, Argus Pheasants, certain Parrots, the Eurylamidae, 

 Chloropsidae, Perirocotidae and Dicaeidae. 



7. Australian Region. Characteristic forms are the Dromae- 

 idae, Casuariidae and Paradiseidae. 



