6/6 JIR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [Junel7, 



Besides these, Mr. Hume notices a large number of wading and 

 water-birds, in which Sindh is probably richer than any other part 

 of India. Some of these are European species which come no 

 further eastward. 



A paper by Dr. Stoliczka on the natural history of Cutch, or (as 

 I suppose it is properly written) Kachh, in the J. A. S. B. 18/2, 

 pt. 2, no. 3, gives a valuable list of birds noticed by him in that 

 little-known part of Western India. It seems to show that though 

 an arid and desolate country, the avifauna is still to a great extent 

 of the same character as that of parts of Central India and the Dec- 

 can, which are more fertile and better wooded. 



Though so near Sindh, there is a considerable difference in the 

 birds, many of those most abundant in the adjoining province being 

 here wanting. 



On the whole, however, I should be inclined to consider Kachh 

 with Sindh as the frontier land of the Palsearctic and Indo-Malay 

 regions, though with a more decided affinity for the latter. It is 

 quite possible that a change in the climate which would bring more 

 rain to Kachh would also cause a great change in its avifauna, and 

 would replace the present scanty list by a much more rich and varied 

 one. The remarks of Dr. Stoliczka (/. 5. c. p. 217, footnote) are so 

 applicable to the conditions of many places in the plains of India, that 

 I transcribe them for the consideration of those who think that the 

 range of birds is influenced entirely by geographical position. 



"Too much importance is, I think, occasionally attributed to the 

 so-called laws of geographical distribution, independently of other 

 agencies, as if these laws were innate to the animal. When speaking 

 of the geographical distribution of a species, one is apt to forget that 

 these geographical limits are mainly dependant on the physical con- 

 ditions required for, and suitable to, the existence of a certain species. 

 A change in the physical conditions of a country will be rapidly fol- 

 lowed by a corresponding change in the fauna, either decreasing or 

 increasing, and thus the geographical limits of a species become 

 mainly dependent on physical conditions." 



As the number of land-birds obtained by Dr. Stoliczka during his 

 stay in Kachh does not exceed 115, and most of them are either 

 migrants or common Indian birds of very wide range, I need not 

 give an analysis of them, but will now go on to that part of the Indo- 

 Malay region which I propose to call the Malay subregion. 



I am personally quite incompetent to do justice to this part of the 

 work, but think that a slight sketch of the leading features of its 

 avifauna will make the remainder of the map more clear to those 

 of my readers who have not previously studied the subject. 



Malay Subregion. 



The absence of any recent or complete account of Malayan orni- 

 thology, and the confusion which exists in their synonymy, makes 

 the study of the birds of the great islands of Java, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo much more difficult than those of India or China. 



With the sole exception of Mr. Wallace, whose travels have added 



