SOUTHERN ASIA.— BIRDS. 51 
(Bucco L.), the singular short-legged thrushes (Brachy- 
pus Sw.), the long-legged or aquatic thrushes (Cratero- 
pus Sw.), the elegant little finches (Hstrelda Sw.), the 
short-billed weavers, or grosbeaks (Amadina Sw.), the 
shining black-coloured grakles (Lamprotornis Tem.), 
and the splendid little sun-birds (Cinnyris Cuv.). All 
these groups extend to the warm latitudes of Africa, and 
several are not unknown in the Australian range; yet in 
Asia they seem confined to the southern region, since no 
examples have occurred either in Persia or Asia Minor, 
much less in Siberia or Europe. 
(70.) On turning to the ornithological groups which 
nature has exclusively restricted to Southern Asia, we 
find this region stamped by very distinct peculiarities. 
The vivid-coloured ant-thrushes (Pitta), with their re- 
presentatives the green bulbuls (Chloropsis Jard.), the 
superb Jéra or black and azure oriole (Zéra Horsf.), the 
true grakles (Gracula L.) the fork-tailed wagtails (Eni- 
curus Tem.), the bullfinch larks (Mirafra Horsf.), the 
broad-tailed thrushes (Timalia H.), and lastly, the 
singular nightfeeders (yctiornis Sw.), are all promi. 
nent examples of Indian ornithology, of which no species 
are to be found in other parts of the world, The rhi- 
noceros hornbill (fig. 15.), one of the largest and scarcest 
of its family, is among the most remarkable birds of India. 
But perhaps the most striking birds, to the general observer 
E 2 
