chap, x.] THE PALiEARCTIC REGION. 195 



tion, which represents a scene in the Alps of Central Europe, 

 with figures of some of the most characteristic Mammalia 

 and Birds of this sub-region. On the left is the badger 

 (Meles Taxus) one of the weasel family, and belonging to a 

 genus which is strictly Palaearctic. It abounds in Central and 

 Northern Europe and also extends into North Asia, but is repre- 

 sented by another species in Thibet and by a third in Japan. 

 The elegantly-formed creatures on the right are chamois [Rupi- 

 capra tragus), almost the only European antelopes, and wholly 

 confined to the higher mountains, from the Pyrenees to the 

 Carpathians and the Caucasus. The chamois is the only 

 species of the genus, and is thus perhaps the most characteristic 

 European mammal. The bird on the left, above the badgers, is 

 the Alpine chough, (Fregilus pyrrhocorax). It is found in the 

 high mountains from the Alps to the Himalayas, and is allied 

 to the Cornish chough, which is still found on our south- 

 western coasts, and which ranges to Abyssinia and North 

 China. The Alpine chough differs in having a shorter bill of 

 an orange colour, and vermilion red feet as in the other 

 species. In the foreground are a pair of ruffs {Machetes pugnax) 

 belonging to the Scolopacidae or snipe family, and most nearly 

 allied to the genus Tringa or sandpiper. This bird is remark- 

 able for the fine collar of plumes which adorns the males in the 

 breeding season, when they are excessively pugnacious. It is 

 the only species of its genus, and ranges over all Europe and 

 much of Northern Asia, migrating in the winter to the plains of 

 India, and even down the east coast of Africa as far as the 

 Cape of Good Hope ; but it only breeds in the Palsearctic 

 region, over the greater part of which it ranges. 



Reptiles and Amphibia. — There are no genera of reptiles 

 peculiar to this sub-region. Both snakes and lizards are compara- 

 tively scarce, there being about fourteen species of the former 

 and twelve of the latter. Our common snake {Troyidonotus 

 natrix) extends into Sweden and North Eussia, but the viper 

 (Viperus berus) goes further north, as far as Archangel (64° N.), 

 and in Scandinavia (67° N.), and is the most Arctic of all known 



