88 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS 



than 2000 fathoms in depth. As would be expected, these 

 islands are thoroughly Oceanic, and possess no indigenous 

 Mammals or Amphibians ; while the Land-birds are few in 

 number, and belong mostly to genera found in Madagascar. 

 The most remarkable feature, however, of the Fauna of 

 these islands is the former existence of a group of flightless 

 Ground-birds now quite extinct, but some of which were 

 found in great numbers when the islands were first dis- 

 covered. These are the Dodos of Mauritius and Reunion 

 respectively, and the Solitaire of Rodriguez. These birds 

 form a distinct family — the Dididze, probably allied to the 

 Pigeons, but of somewhat obscure affinities. It seems that 

 the ancestors of these birds must have reached the islands 

 in very early times, and that most of the striking pecu- 

 liarities exhibited by them were gradually acquired after 

 their arrival in the group. 



We may, at any rate, conclude that these three islands 

 are truly Oceanic, and that they have never had a land- 

 connection with Madagascar or elsewhere. 



Section II. — General View of the Mammal-fauna 

 of the Ethiopian Region 



The Ethiopian Region, as will be seen by looking at the 

 Tables of the numbers of families, genera, and species given 

 at the end of Chapter I. (p. 16), is the richest of the six 

 Regions as regards the total numbers of its families, genera, 

 and species of mammals, although the percentage of peculiar 

 forms not found in other Regions is hardly so high as in the 

 Neotropical and Australian Regions. This may, however, 

 be accounted for by the consideration that there is a long 



