1873.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 653 



and Africa, which has been insisted on by some writers of great 

 eminence, does not now appear to me to be so strong as it did at 

 first sight, and as I thought it was when I began to go into the 

 question. 



During my stay in India I visited and collected more or less in 

 the Carnatic, Travancore hills, Bengal, Lower Assam, N.W. Pro- 

 vinces, Punjab, and Central Provinces ; but I was never long enough 

 in any part of the country except Sikkim to acquire more than a 

 general idea of its ornithology. I then supposed that the birds of 

 the plains generally had little in common with those of the Malay 

 countries ; but when I began to examine and analyze lists from 

 various parts of the country, I found that, though such genera as 

 Centropus, Malac.ocercus, Pycnonotus, Dicrurus, Ploceus, Tham- 

 nobia, and Pyrrhulauda are the most conspicuous and constantly 

 observed, yet wherever the country becomes hilly or better wooded, 

 as in many parts of Southern, Central, and Western India, the 

 almost certain occurrence of such genera as Pitta, Myiopkonus, Hyp- 

 sipetes, Pericrocotus, Phyllornis, Caipophaga, or of some species of 

 the Malayan Hornbills, Woodpeckers, and Barbets, shows to my mind 

 conclusively that the general absence or scarcity of Malay forms 

 is only the result of the general absence of suitable climate and 

 vegetation. To strengthen this opinion it may be mentioned that 

 since the planting and preservation of trees, which has taken place 

 in some parts of the country of late years, an increase in the number 

 and variety of tree-loving birds has been remarked. Most of these 

 are of Malay rather than African genera*. 



In all the hills of Southern and Central India, such as the 

 Pulnies, Neilgherries, Shevaroys, Eastern Ghats, Mahadeva, and 

 Gawilgarh hills, in the whole range of the Western Ghats, in the 

 jungles of Midnapore, Sumbulpore, and the Mahanuddy, and even 

 as far north as' the isolated range of Mount Abu, these Indo -Malay 

 types will be found in more or less abundance. They are frequently 

 accompanied by the aboriginal races of men, who, like the birds, 

 have fled before cultivation and the persecution of a superior race to 

 the most inaccessible jungles and mountains. A better acquaintance 

 with these hill-ranges, many of which are still lamentably unknown, 

 will probably show that the Malay fauna is present in a more or less 



* P.S. As considerable objection was made to this theory by 'some gentlemen 

 present at the meeting when this paper was read, I would say, to prevent mis- 

 understanding, that though I am not prepared to deny the existence of sufficient 

 resemblance between the fauna of Africa and India to justify their union into 

 one region, yet as long as they are kept separate, which (from an ornithological 

 point of view alone) seems desirable, I think that the birds of India have more 

 affinity, both genericaily and specifically, with the birds of the Indo-Malay than 

 with those of the Ethiopian region. After carefully and impartially analyzing 

 the most accurate lists I can obtain of the birds found in various parts of it, as 

 well as in the country generally, I can find hardly any genera really charac- 

 teristic of the Ethiopian region — many which are often considered so, such 

 as Tchitrea, Zosterops, Dicrurus, Ploceus, Estrelda, being equally well represented 

 in countries east of India ; while others, such as Aquila, Gyps, Saxicola, Pratin- 

 cola, Pterocles, Galerida, &c, are really far more characteristic of the S. and S.E. 

 parts of the Palasarctic region. 



