Geographical Distribution 361 



of Turdinns, a Malayan group of small brown Babbling- 

 Thrushes, and even in ordinary forms like Kingfishers, 

 we meet with Halcyon badia, the Chestnut Kingfisher, which 

 has no affinity with any other African species of Halcyon, 

 but finds its ally in the Indian species, Halcyon smyrnensis, 

 and the Philippine H gularis. Peculiar forms of Flower- 

 peckers (Dieiidce), a family of birds principally Indian and 

 Malayan, also occur in West Africa. 



IV. THE ABYSSINIAN SUB-REGION. 



Many characteristic forms of Mammals and Birds consti- 

 tute the natural elements for the recognition of a separate 

 Sub-Region in North-eastern Africa, but it must be admitted 

 that its limits are, from want of knowledge, impossible to 

 define exactly at present, as we do not know the extent on 

 its western frontier of the Soudanese Sub-Region, nor on its 

 southern frontier of the encroachments of the East African 

 Sub-Region. Many birds supposed to be exclusively 

 Abyssinian have recently been found in Equatorial Africa, 

 and much closer study and an examination of larger col- 

 lections of specimens will be necessary before we can hope 

 to define the frontiers of the Abyssinian and West African 

 Sub-Regions. 



V. THE EAST AFRICAN SUB-REGION. 



Although possessing many peculiar species of birds, this 

 Sub-Region requires the accumulation of much more 

 material than we possess at present for the exact definition 

 of its boundaries. Roughly speaking, it seems to extend 

 from the north of the Zambesi to Abyssinia, or at least 

 Shoa, westwards to the Nile watershed and the chain of the 

 Great Lakes, and includes Somali-land. New species of 

 birds have, however, been discovered in the latter country 

 in recent years, which show more affinity to species from 



