1898-99.| Geographical Distribution of British Birds. 17 
by rail or boat as yet disturb its calm. The air is strong 
and bracing, and pleasant with the sweet scent of heather 
and honeysuckle and the wholesome odour of pine. As a 
health-resort it may well be recommended. 
IIL—GHOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN 
BRITISH BIRDS AND THEIR ALLIES. 
By Cotonet R. G. WARDLAW RAMSAY. 
(Communicated Dec. 28, 1898) 
COLONEL WARDLAW Ramsay, at the outset, alluded to the 
importance of geographical distribution and the increasing 
interest in the study of it. He regretted, on the other hand, 
the false value attached by many to British-killed specimens, 
and the consequent destruction of our rarer visitors. The 
very wide area of distribution of many of our British birds, or 
their close allies, was shown, and a large number of painted 
slides were exhibited to show varieties due to environment or 
climate. The lecturer gave a brief history of the growth of 
the study of geographical distribution, indicating the six zoo- 
geographical regions of the world which at present are recog- 
nised by naturalists. It was shown that the area of distribu- 
tion of certain families, genera, and species, and their varieties, 
were in some cases world-wide, and in others very restricted 
—the osprey and the barn-owl being instanced as illustrations 
of the former, and the azure-winged magpie of Spain and 
Japan, the sun-bird of the Jordan valley, or our red grouse, of 
the latter. These areas are sometimes continuous, as in the 
brambling, or discontinuous, as in the genus Cyanipwa: some- 
times the areas overlap, as in the case of the long-tailed tits 
and the azure tit. 
The lecturer showed that deep seas, however narrow, had 
more effect in determining areas of distribution than shallow 
seas, however broad; and explained this phenomenon in the 
light of geology and the opinion of naturalists like Dr Wallace 
VOL, IV, B 
