128 



VISCOUNT WALDEN ON THE BIRDS 



land, linking, as it were, the Papuan and Indian regions. As we quit the mainland of 

 the Indian region in the south-east, it is well known that the Indo-Ethiopian types 

 diminish in number ; and in the Philippines, as in Celebes, they may be said to be at 

 their minimum. But along with them many Indo-Malayan types also disappear from 

 both these insular areas ; while, on the other hand, they are replaced by peculiarly 

 Papuan generic forms, and by a few peculiar forms not in numbers sufficient to balance 

 the absence of the Indo-Ethiopian and the Indo-Malayan. We consequently find an ornis 

 more anomalous in its admixture of forms, but poorer as regards species. So far as we 

 know, it may be asserted that, after Celebes, the Philippine archipelago is the least rich 

 in Indian genera and species of all the subareas of the Indian region; while, like 

 Celebes, it is stamped with a marked Papuan character by the presence of Cacatua and 

 Megapodius, and by its richness in members of the Psittacidce, Alcedinidm, and 

 Columbidce. 



A glance at the table below will show the dearth existing in the Philippines of Indo- 

 Malayan forms. Nine of these absent genera occur in Celebes, while the remaining 

 sixty genera are wanting in both areas. On the other hand, thirty Indo-Malayan genera 

 wanting in Celebes occur in the Philippines. 



The number of species peculiar to the Philippine archipelago, namely 106, amounts 

 to nearly half of the total of known Philippine birds. This proportion is considerably 

 less in the island of Celebes, where, out of a known total of 205 species, 73 only are 



