1864. ] PARROTS OF THE MALAYAN REGION. 275 
ptera, as abnormal among Kingfishers as Lories are among Parrots, 
has almost exactly the same limits of distribution as thev have. 
Within these limits are found some of the most curious forms of 
Parrots, the giant black Cockatoo (Microglossus) and the dwarf-of 
the whole order (Nasiterna), the bare-headed Dasyptilus and the ele- 
gant little Charmosyna. Tanygnathus has the range of Los, but 
extends north-westwards to Celebes and the Philippines ; Geoffroyus 
south-westwards to Timor and Flores ; while the remarkable genus 
Eclectus has exactly the same range as the Lories, whose attire it 
seems to mimic, for in it alone are found Parrots whose only colours 
are red with a portion of blue and black. This coincidence of the 
range of the red Psittactde with that of the red Trichoglosside is a 
very curious fact, and clearly intimates that these gay tints are not 
mere sports of nature, or designed for the delectation of man, but 
have a close connexion with the life-history of the creatures which 
they adorn, and probably subserve an important though hidden ob- 
ject in the economy of these groups. 
The whole number of Parrots known to inhabit this Loriine region 
is fifty-four, belonging to no less than fifteen genera, of which eight 
genera are altogether peculiar to it. This is very remarkable when 
we compare it with Australia, which, though many times more ex- 
tensive and also exceptionally rich in this family, possesses, with a 
rather larger number of species, about ten genera, of which six or 
seven only are peculiar to it. But Australia has been comparatively 
well explored in every part of its great extent, and, though a few 
more species may be discovered, we cannot expect it to produce any 
new forms of Parrots. New Guinea, on the other hand, the centre 
and primary mass to which the surrounding islands are but satellites, 
is a terra incognita. Few persons are aware that every New 
Guinea bird, beast, or insect we are acquainted with, has been ob- 
tained in the northern peninsulas of that country, which, as I before 
remarked, seem just about to be converted into islands ; while the 
true island itself, a vast tract of forest and mountain, 800 miles long 
and 500 wide, is absolutely and entirely unknown. The whole of 
the other islands in this region which have been visited by any natu- 
ralist will not make up a tenth of this vast area; and as the mere 
outskirts of this unexplored land have yielded a number of remarkable 
genera and hosts of species which do not extend to the surrounding 
islands, we may be sure that the remarkable concentration of peculiar 
forms of Parrots which the Loriine region exhibits, even with our 
present imperfect knowledge of it, is very far below the reality. I 
believe, therefore, that we have every reason to consider New Guinea 
as being that still existing portion of what was once the great tropical 
Pacific continent to which I have alluded ; and in the crimson Lories, 
the black Microglossum, the Birds of Paradise, and the great Crowned 
Pigeons, we have but a remnant and a sample of the strange and 
beautiful forms of life that once inhabited it, and many of which may 
still remain to be discovered in the untrodden Papuan forests. 
The genus Trichoglossus ranges over the whole of Australia and 
nearly the whole of the Austro-Malayan Islands, the most remark- 
