318 NATURAL HISTORY [chap. xiv. 



Java, but also in Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca. For ex- 

 ample, among the commonest birds in Lombock were white 

 cockatoos and three species of Meliphagidae or honey- 

 suckers, belonging to family groups which are entirely 

 absent from the western or Indo-Malayan region of the 

 Archipelago. On passing to Flores and Timor the dis- 

 tinctness from the Javanese productions increases, and we 

 find that these islands form a natural group, whose birds 

 are related to those of Java and Australia, but are quite 

 distinct from either. Besides my own collections in Lom- 

 bock and Timor, my assistant Mr. Allen made a good 

 collection in Flores ; and these, with a few species obtained 

 by the Dutch naturalists, enable us to form a very good idea 

 of the natural history of this group of islands, and to 

 derive therefrom some very interesting results. 



The number of birds known from these islands up to 

 this date, is, — 63 from Lombock, 86 from Flores, and 118 

 from Timor ; and from the whole group 188 species. With 

 the exception of two or three species which appear to have 

 been derived from the Moluccas, all these birds can be 

 traced, either directly or by close allies, to Java on the one 

 side or to Australia on the other ; although no less than 82 

 of them are found nowhere out of this small group of 

 islands. There is not, however, a single genus peculiar to 

 the group, or even one which is largely represented in it by 

 peculiar species ; and this is a fact which indicates that the 



