108 ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANIMALS. 



species as the British. It must be remembered, how- 

 ever, that all these nocturnal birds have a most exten - 

 sive range, not only over Europe and Asia, but some 

 have been recently detected in Northern America, while 

 several others are unknown out of South Africa. 



(153.) The insectivorous birds, in their genera, differ 

 not from those generally dispersed to the south of the 

 line : one of the shrikes, the wood-chat, is precisely the 

 same as ours ; but another (JLanius equinoctialis Sw.), 

 confounded by authors with the red-backed shrike, is 

 in reality distinct. The Drongo shrikes, called by the 

 / Dutch colonists, from their black colour, Devil-birds, as 

 we have already mentioned, are found also in Western 

 Africa ; other species occur in India ; and one (Ed. 

 australis Sw.) is peculiar to New Holland. The 

 curious birds called caterpillar-catchers (Ceblepyrince 

 Sw.), from their feeding almost entirely on those soft 

 insects, occur very sparingly ; since their chief metro- 

 polis is the opposite land of Australia : of this genus, no 

 typical examples have yet reached us from Sierra Leone, 

 but the kindred genus Phanicornis* appears to be their 

 representatives towards the equinoctial line. The fly- 

 catchers of all these latitudes are not only of the same 

 genera ; but some, as the Paradise, or long-tailed fly- 

 catcher,, are of precisely the same species as those of India. 

 (154.) Many of the perching birds are of beautiful 

 plumage and others are no less remarkable for their 

 wonderful instinct. The crested 

 kingfisher (Alcedo cristata L.) 

 (fig.4>Q.), is nearly the smallest, 

 and certainly the most elegant, 

 of its congeners. The South 

 African sun-birds (Cinnyris 

 Cuv.) rival those of India and 

 of the Gambia in the brilliancy 

 of their colours, while the more 

 chaste but elegant green and 

 silky plumage of the couracco 

 (Corythaix Illig.) renders these 



* Zool. Illustrations, ii. pi. 52. 



