THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 125 



One species, 798 bis, Chalcopbaps Augustse, Bonap. (p. 270.) 

 cannot, I consider, be maintained, but must be reduced to a 

 synonyme of C. indicus. Lin. 



82 ter, Hirundo andamanensis, Tytler, (p. 155.) appears to me 

 to be an excessively doubtful species, and I would exclude it 

 also from our list. 



Making, therefore, all these necessary deductions, there 

 remain 173 species, which we may confidently admit as pertain- 

 ing to the fauna of these islands, and I must say that, exclud- 

 ing rare stragglers driven to them at odd times by stress of 

 weather, I am doubtful whether the total real number exceeds 

 at present 200. I say at present advisedly, because I have little 

 doubt that as the work of clearing and cultivation proceeds and 

 wide waving fields of rice and extensive gardens full of fruit 

 trees take the place, as they are gradually taking, of gloomy 

 mangrove-swamps and dense forests, some species, specially 

 grain eaters, now strangers to the islands, will find their way 

 thither from the main land of Asia, and aid to swell the list 

 both of seasonal visitants and permanent residents. As a 

 matter of fact this immigration is by some considered to have 

 already commenced, and certainly from what I could learn from 

 Mr. Homfray, the oldest resident in the Settlement, it would 

 seem that some birds now common about Port Blair were 

 unknown in Colonel Tytler's time ; but whether these are really 

 new immigrants, or ancient residents, brought to light by the 

 extensive clearings and largely multiplied by unwonted supplies 

 of food, may, I think, well be doubted. 



Of the 173 species which I now admit, six require more exact 

 determination. In every case, but one, we ourselves saw 

 the birds ; in some cases many of them, and there can be no 

 reasonable doubts that some species of the genus indicated or 

 of a nearly allied one does occur, but as we failed to procure 

 specimens, and as no one else has as yet obtained any, we cannot 

 be certain of the species. These six are (1) SiLyncornis, probably 

 cerviniceps (p. 162.) ; (2) a Centrococcyx, of the rufipennis type, 

 probably eurycercus (p. 196.) ; (3) a Pitta, probably, from what I 

 could see of it, Brachyurus moluccensis, butpossiblyan undescribed 

 species (p. 220.); (4) a Carpophaga (p. 266.), apparently an undes- 

 cribed species, and very possibly not a true Carpophaga, but a spe- 

 cies belonging to one of the other genera of large fruit-eatino- 

 pigeons; (5) a Prion (p. 315.) ; (6) a Thalassidroma (p. 315.) 



The following table shows how the 173 species that I admit are 

 distributed amongst the six great natural orders which Dr. Jerdon, 

 (whose arrangement I follow for the convenience of Indian 



