ISLAND AVIFAUNAS 203 



two endemic forms. No wonder need be expressed at 

 the paucity of endemic species in Madeira and the 

 Azores, for they are situated too near the vast migration 

 that passes the coasts of West Europe, and are therefore 

 constantly being visited by abnormal migrants, out of 

 their proper course, which prevent the complete isola- 

 tion of the island individuals, and destroy by inter- 

 breeding any tendency towards specific distinctness, I 

 need scarcely remark that the endemic races are more 

 closely allied to species that rarely, if ever, reach the 

 islands. The various connections between the avifaunas 

 of the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores are certainly 

 remarkable, and in some cases scarcely the result of 

 fortuitous migration. The facts seem to suggest that 

 these areas were formerly, and at no very remote era, 

 more extended and in closer proximity than is now 

 the case. 



I might also remark that Japan, with its few endemic 

 forms, is precisely analogous to the British Islands. It 

 is situated on or near the direct path of migration that 

 flows down the extreme east of Asia, and its avifauna is 

 not sufficiently isolated ever to assume a very endemic 

 character. It is significant that the Bonin Isles, out of 

 the line of this dominant stream of continental migra- 

 tion, contain comparatively a very large number of 

 endemic forms. 



A brief notice of Tropical Islands, remarkable for 

 their wealth of endemic species, now becomes necessary. 

 For instance, we have Madagascar with its 129 endemic 

 species, out of a total avifauna of 238 ; Borneo with 108 

 out of 580 ; the Philippines with 300 out of 472 ! 

 Many scores of similar instances might be given, 



