Distribution of Birds. 5J<5 



to the east of the latter river. It includes within its limits 

 the highlands of Guiana, from which it is probable that a 

 great part of the animal-life of the adjacent lowlands was 

 originally derived. This is shown by the well-known fact 

 that, in the case of different representative species being 

 found in Guiana and South-east Brazil, the Amazonian 

 form is invariably more nearly allied to the Guianan than to 

 the South-east Brazilian representative. 



As regards the Amazonian basin generally we have no 

 general work to record as issued during the past fifteen 

 years, except Taczanowski's ' Ornithology of Peru,' already 

 spoken of, which embraces an account of all the species that 

 occur on the Peruvian Amazons. But numerous individual 

 collections are made almost every year in different parts of 

 this extended area, and I may specially mention the names 

 of Mr. Ridgway (113) and Graf v. Berlepsch (114) as having 

 recently made excellent contributions towards our knowledge 

 of this subject. 



The highlands of Guiana, on the other hand, have of late 

 years found an efficient explorer in the person of Mr. Henry 

 Whitely, C.M.Z.S., whose large collections have fortunately 

 passed through the hands of Messrs. Salvin and Godman. 

 On these collections Mr. Salvin has based an excellent 

 modern list of the birds of British Guiana, which he has 

 published in ^ The Ibis ' for 1885 and 1886 (115). In his 

 summary Mr. Salvin has shown that 625 species may be 

 placed in the Guianan list, of which about 60 per cent, are 

 common to the Amazonian Valley. Mr. Salvin further 

 points out that the following fifteen genera of birds, which 

 are found both in Guiana and in Amazonia, do not extend 

 outside the limits of the Amazonian Subregion : — 



Xenopipo, Topaza. 



Neopipo. Urogalba. 



Phoenicocercus. Deroptyus. 



Xipholena. Nothocrax. 



Haematoderus. Mitua. 



Gymnocephalus. Opisthucoiu us. 



Gymnoderus. Psophia. 

 Rhopoterpe. 



SEll. VI. VOL. III. 3 P 



