Distribution (>/ Paradoxorms heudei. 183 



with centres of darker sienna and of burnt-umber ; here and 

 there are underlying blotciies and spots of pale inky purple. 

 Two of the five eggs have the markings disposed, mainly in a 

 wreath round the large end ; the blotches being sharper- 

 edged and their colour purer than in the other three. 



The eggs have a distinct family resemblance to those of 

 some of the other Paradoxornithiuse in the British Museum, 

 but not to those of the genus Sut/iora, which are uniform 

 in colour. 



Measurements: — Length, max. 188 mm.^ min. 18^ average 

 18"3. Breadth, max. l4:'o mm., min. 14-3, average 14-4. 



Reniarks. 



The discovery of its nest and eggs serves, in its degree, 

 to strengthen the generic relationship of P. heudei with 

 P. gularis, P. rujiceps, and P. guttaticollis ; but the difficult 

 question of the relationship of the Paradoxorniis group with 

 the genera Suthora, Conostoma, Cholornis, and especially with 

 Panurus, the most debateable, interesting, and. (fortunately) 

 accessible of all, must await Mr. Py craft's investigations on 

 the spirit-specimens. I would, remark, however, that, in so 

 far as the characters of nests and eggs affect the question, 

 Suthora, with its whole-coloured eggs, does not appear 

 to be so closely related as perhaps the birds' external 

 characters seem to show. 



From the distribution cliart, it will be seen that, besides 

 being infinitely more restricted than that of its presumably 

 nearest allies, the range of P. heudei is situated at the 

 extreme north-eastern limit of the range of its genus, whose 

 centre of distribution is eminently a sub-tropical one. It is 

 therefore more reasonable to attribute the origin of this 

 species to the extension of an ancesti'al form from a more 

 remotely established subtropical centre of distribution, than 

 to consider the species as a relic of a once more northerly- 

 ranging group. 



I am convinced that only by the very gradual process of 

 natural adaptation could the species continue to exist and 



