Of the Timor Group. 211 



these Avere the yellow-headed weaver (Ploceus hypoxantha), 

 the black grasshopper-thrush (Copsychus amoenus), the rosy 

 barbet (Mcgaloema rosea), the Malay oriole (Oriolus hors- 

 fieldi), the Java ground-starling (Sturnopastor jalla), and the 

 Javanese tliree-toed woodpecker (Chrysonotus tiga). On 

 crossing over to Lombock, separated from Bali by a strait 

 less than twenty miles wide, I naturally expected to meet 

 with some of these birds again ; but during a stay there of 

 three months I never saw one of them, but found a totally 

 different set of species, most of which were utterly imknown 

 not only in Java, but also in Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca. 

 For example, among the commonest birds in Lombock were 

 white cockatoos and three species of Meliphagidoe, or honey 

 suckers, belongiug to family groups which are entirely absent 

 from the western or Indo-Malayan region of the Archipelago. 

 On passing to Flores and Timor the distinctness from the 

 Javanese productions increases, and Ave find that these islands 

 form a natural group, whose birds are related to those of 

 Java and Australia, but are quite distinct from either. Be- 

 sides my own collections in Lombock and Timor, my assistant 

 Mr. Allen made a good collection in Flores ; and these, with 

 a few species obtained by the Dutch naturalists, enable us to 

 form a very good idea of the natural history of this group of 

 islands, and to derive therefrom some very interesting results. 

 The number of birds known from these islands up to this 

 date is — 63 from Lombock, 86 from Flores, and 118 from 

 Timor; and from the whole group 188 species. With the 

 exception of two or three species which appear to have been 

 derived from the Moluccas, all these birds can be traced, either 

 directly or by close allies, to Java on the one side, or to Aus- 

 stralia on the other, although no less than 82 of them are 

 found nowhere out of this small group of islands. There is 

 not, however, a single genus peculiar to the group, or even 

 one Avhich is largely represented in it by peculiar species ; 

 and this is a fact which indicates that the fauna is strictly 

 derivative, and that its origin does not go back beyond one 

 of the most recent geological epochs. Of course there are a 

 large number of species (such as most of the Avaders, many 

 of the raptorial birds, some of the kingfishers, swalloAvs, and 

 a few others) Avhich range so widely over a large part of the 



