2 Mr. Alfred R. Wallace on the 



and, therefore, all species which do not exist in the Ley den 

 Museum and which inhabit the Malay Archipelago, Northern 

 Borneo, the Philippine Islands, Eastern New Guinea, and the 

 islands extending thence to the Solomon Islands do not find a 

 place in his works, although they undoubtedly form a part of 

 the fauna of the Malay Archipelago. In the next place, I 

 possess an extensive collection of this group formed by myself, 

 comprising seventy-two out of the eighty-seven known species, and 

 containing fine series of many of the species accurately labelled 

 with locality and sex, with notes of the colours of the soft parts, 

 which information I desire to make known in a connected form. 

 Lastly, I differ in many points from both Prof. Schlegel and Dr. 

 Kaup^ and wish to explain the reasons why I differ from such 

 eminent men. 



With the exception that Vultures are entirely absent, birds of 

 prey are tolerably plentiful in the Archipelago, the total number 

 of species being greater than those of India as restricted by Dr. 

 Jerdon. This large number seems to be chiefly due to the break- 

 ing-up of the district into a vast number of islands, most of which 

 were separated at a more remote epoch than that of the origin of 

 many existing species, while some date from a high geological 

 antiquity. Closely allied representative species, therefore, abound 

 and swell the total amount, although in any one island or locality 

 the number to be obtained is very small. The average number 

 of Falconida found in an island is ten, of Strigida three. Java 

 contains the largest number, possessing seventeen Hawks and 

 eight Owls; Celebes comes next, with the same number of 

 Hawks, but only five Owls ; whereas in many districts of India, 

 equal in extent to one of these islands, double this number of 

 species would probably be obtained. In Ceylon Mr. Layard 

 obtained twenty-three Hawks and seven Owls. 



Of the subfamilies, the true Hawks [Accipitrince) are the 

 most abundant, numbering eighteen species; next come the 

 Eagles {Aquilince) with sixteen species, the Kites {Milvina) with 

 ten species, the Falcons [Falconinai) with six species, and the 

 Buzzards and Harriers (Buteonina) three species. Taking the 

 groups of islands, the number of species diminishes pretty regu- 

 larly from west to east. The Indo-Malay group (Malacca, 



