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244 ELEMENTS OF ORNITHOLOGY, 
Plovers (Agialitis sancte-helenw) which is found nowhere else 
in the world. 
The Hast-African subregion has rather complex relations with 
the three subregions already described; but many absolutely 
peculiar forms have not yet been satisfactorily determined. 
The Madagascar or the Mascarene subregion, which is so very 
peculiar in its beasts, possesses also, as might be expected, a 
very distinct avifauna. 
A large number of genera are peculiar to it. More than two 
hundred species of birds are known to be its inhabitants, of 
which 120 are land-birds, five-sixths of which are absolutely 
peculiar to the island. But it contains ordinary as well as 
peculiar kinds, and there is a slight Malayan element, and also 
some British species. The now extinct Dodo, Solitaire, and 
Epyornis * were birds of this subregion. The Dodo inhabited 
Mauritius, the Solitaire was found in Rodriguez, and A°pyornis 
was peculiar to Madagascar itself. In the smaller islands several 
other kinds of birds have also recently become extinct; while 
their remaining avifauna is very distinct. Thus Professor 
Newton affirms that, though Mauritius and Reunion lie within 
sight of each other and possess about the same number of species, 
they do not appear to possess more than three in common. 
THE INDIAN Recton is the home of the most gorgeous Gallina- 
ceous birds—the Peacock, the Argus, Fire-backed, Polyplectron, 
and other Pheasants. It is also the home ot the Jungle-fowl, 
and possesses exclusively most of the Asiatic Hornbills. Sun- 
birds are found throughout the region, with Barbets, Cuckoos, 
Bee-eaters, brilliant Kingfishers, the glossy, noisy Mynahs 
(Hulabes), and more than twenty peculiar genera. Indeed, 
three whole families of birds—the Hill-tits or Liotrichide, the 
Bulbuls or Pycnonotide, and the Broadbills or Lwryleamide— 
are peculiar to it. 
Of its two subregions, the Malayan one is distinguished by 
exhibiting some striking and interesting approximations to the 
bird-fauna of the Australian region. Thus in the Philippines 
we have a Cockatoo of the Australian genus Cacatua, and there, 
as well as in the Nicobar Islands and Borneo, the Australian 
mound-building Megapodius is met with. Hornbills are very 
characteristic of the subregion, as is likewise the Argus Pheasant, 
* Other extinct forms from this subregion haye been already noticed ; 
see ante, p. 238. 
