120 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



fire-back pheasants, and the crested partridges {Rolluhis). 

 On the other hand, there are twelve Javan birds whose 

 nearest alhes (sometimes the identical species) occur in 

 the Indo-Chinese countries or the Himalayas, while they 

 are quite unknown in Sumatra and Borneo, the most 

 popular example of which is the pea-fowl of Java, found 

 also in Siam and Burmah, but not in the intervening 

 islands.^ 



In reptiles, fresh-water fishes, and insects, Java is very 

 rich, the forms agreeing generally with those prevalent in 

 the other Malay islands, and in the Indo-Malay countries. 

 The insects are especially fine, and among the beetles 

 and butterflies are some of magnificent dimensions and 

 gorgeous colours ; but, as in the birds, many of them are 

 quite peculiar to the island and unlike those of Sumatra 

 and Borneo. 



Among the more remarkable large animals of Java are 

 the rhinoceros, the tiger, the leopard, the wild dog, the 

 wild ox, and two species of wild swine. Deer are abundant 

 and of several species, but there are no antelopes or goats. 

 Squirrels are very plentiful, and there are several species 

 of monkeys. A singular animal, somewhat intermediate 

 in appearance between a polecat and a badger, is the 

 Mydaus, remarkable for its distribution on the higher 

 mountains only. Dr. Horsfield states that it is confined 

 exclusively to those mountains which have an elevation 

 of more than 7000 feet above the sea, and that on these 

 it occurs with the regularity of some plants, extending 

 from one end of the island to the other on the numerous 

 disconnected mountain summits. It emits an offensive 

 stench like the skunk of America. Besides the peacock. 



^ For the details of these peculiarities and their probable causes, see 

 Tlie Geofjrcq^Mcal Distrihutiun of Animals, by A. Pi. Wallace, vol, i. 

 p. 349. 



