18/3.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 669 



Indian Subregion. 

 We now come to that part of the Indo-Malay region which, as I 

 previously said, is remarkable for the absence or comparative scarcity 

 of many of the principal Malay groups, and which I term the Indian 

 subregion. 



Mr. Blanford, when considering the geographical distribution of 

 Indian reptiles (see J. A. S. B. 1870), and influenced, no doubt, by 

 Ins knowledge of other branches of natural history, divides India 

 into four provinces. One of these, his eastern Bengal province, 

 including Lower Bengal, Assam, and Cachar, should, as he justly 

 says, be classed with the Indo-Chinese countries, and therefore in- 

 cluded in the Himalo-Chinese subregion. A second, called by him 

 the Punjab province, includes the most arid and treeless parts of 

 India— that is to say, the Punjaub, Scinde, the trans-Indus pro- 

 vinces, western Rajputana, and Cutch. This, though tinged more 

 or less with the Malay element, and possessing most of the genera 

 peculiar to the Indian subregion, has such a large proportion of 

 Palaearctic and desert-haunting species, that, though it is desirable 

 to include it in the Indian subregion, it must be regarded as a 

 border-land separating the Indo-Malay from the Patearctic region, 

 as that is separated from the Ethiopian by the deserts of Libya and 

 the Sahara. 



Mr. Blanford's other two divisions, in which I entirely concur, are 

 as follows : — 



The Indian province proper, including all India east of Delhi and 

 Kathiawar as far as the Rajmahal hills, and the whole peninsula 

 south of the Ganges, with the exception of the western coast and 

 some scattered hills in Southern India. 



The Malabar province, including all the western coast from 

 Bombay to Cape Comorin, and the whole of the mountains running 

 parallel to that coast probably as far as the Taptee, also the greater 

 part of Ceylon. 



It should be observed that, in the opinion of some, the special 

 features which Ceylon affords in some branches of zoology would 

 entitle it to be ranked as a separate subregion. This, however, 

 would not be desirable in an ornithological sense, as it does not, as 

 far as I am aware, contain a single genus peculiar to the island, 

 though it has some remarkable points in common with the Malayan 

 and Himalayan subregions. 



Ceylon. 



The birds of Ceylon have been ably worked out by Mr. Holds- 

 worth in the P. Z. S. for 1872 ; and the list which he gives, number- 

 ing 325 species, probably includes almost every species inhabiting 

 the island. & 



Deducting the Grallse and Anseres, as usual, we have 225 birds 

 from which to form an opinion as to the zoogeographical affinities of 

 Ceylon, and, from an examination of the list, get the following 

 results : — & 



