256 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



as a member of the Siberian migration. The 

 distribution of the European Bullfinch (P. europcea) 

 is very interesting, as it occurs in two distinct 

 forms, by some authorities regarded as races, by 

 others as species. In all probability these two 

 races owe their origin to two different migrations 

 from the same ancestral stock. We may suppose 

 that P. europcza came to Europe along with the 

 Oriental migration, spreading chiefly over the south 

 and west, while another branch developed in Siberia 

 into the larger and more brilliant race (P. major), 

 which subsequently entered the neighbouring con- 

 tinent with the Siberian fauna. The latter race 

 inhabits, according to Mr Saunders, Northern and 

 Eastern Europe, and also Siberia. All the other 

 species there are eight more except one, are found 

 in Asia. This one species, which inhabits the Azores, 

 appears to be more closely related to one of the 

 Siberian bullfinches than to the European. It stands 

 isolated, and is an extraordinary instance of discon- 

 tinuous distribution, as no Bullfinch inhabits either 

 Madeira or the Canary Islands. We must assume 

 that the form connecting it with the Asiatic prob- 

 ably lived in Southern Europe, and has become 

 extinct. 



One of the most typically Oriental genera of birds 

 is Phaslanus, to which our Common Pheasant belongs. 

 Out of twenty species, nineteen are found exclusively 

 in Asia, most of them being confined to the central 

 plateaux of that continent. Only one species passes 



