98 A FOSSIL CONTINENT 



upproiicli tlio li/ard-liiikHl binl.s of tlio oolito or tlio tootliod 

 birds of tlic crotiu-oous i)oriod as do tlioso Australian and 

 Now Zealand ennis and apteryxos. Aj^niin, Avliile many 

 cliaractoristic Oriontal familios aro quito a,hsi>iit, liko tho 

 vultiiros, woodpockors, ])lu'asants and hiilhtils, Iho Austra- 

 lian ri'j^ion has many other fairly anciiMit birds, found no- 

 where olso on tho surface of our modern pl:nu>t. Sueh 

 aro tho so-ealled brush turkeys and mound buiidtM's, tho 

 only feather(>d things that n(>viM" sit upon tlu>ir own oiX'A^, 

 but allow them to bo hatched, aftiu' tho fiishion of r(^ptiles. 

 by tho lieat of the sand or of fermentinti: vegetaldo matter. 

 Tlie pipinj]; crows, tho houoysuckers, the lyre-birds, and 

 tiu) moro-porks aro all peculiar to tho Australian rejj^ion. 

 So aro tho wonderful and aesthetic bower-birds. I>rush- 

 toujjfucd lories, black cockatoos, and L!:ori;;eously coloured 

 pisj;uons, though somewhat loss anticpie, pcn-haps, in type, 

 {jfive a spoi'ial character to the bird-life of tho country. 

 And in New (luinea, an isolated bit of the same old con- 

 tinent, tho birds of paradise, fomid nowhoro else in t]u> 

 whole W(n'ld, si'cm to recall some fori,'otten l^jden of the 

 remote })ast, some golden ago of Saturnian splendoin*. 

 l\)etry apart, into which I have di'op])ed for a nu>nuMit like 

 Mr. Silas Wegg, tho birds of paradise aro, in fact, gor- 

 geously drissed crows, specijilly adapted to forest life in a 

 rich fruit-bearing tropical country, where food is abundant 

 and enemies unknown. 



Last of all, a certain small number of modcM'n nuimmals 

 have passtnl over to Australia at various tim(>s by pure 

 chance. Thev fall into two classes — tho rats and mice, who 

 doubtless got transported across on floating logs or balks 

 of timber ; and the hunum importations, including the dog, 

 who came, pc^rhaps on their owners' cano(>s, perhaps on tho 

 wreck and di'^bris of inundations. Yet even in these cases 

 again, Australia still maintains its proud pre-eminence as 



