26 



ON THE GEOGRAPHY OP ANIMALS. 



circumstances admit ; and, having done this, the result 

 may be entitled to proportionate confidence. 



(35.) As a general recapitulation of the foregoing de- 

 tails, we may estimate the total number of European species 

 at 388, excluding a few, which only appear, at remote 

 intervals, as stragglers : of these, thirty-one are more 

 peculiar to the Arctic regions of Europe, America, and 

 probably of Asia ; the proportion being as one to 

 thirteen. Such as occur, also, in temperate Asia and 

 America amount to sixty-eight ; forty of which are 

 aquatic : nine are dispersed over four divisions of the 

 globe, to none of which can they be particularly ap- 

 propriated ; while one or two extend also to Australia. 

 With all these deductions, the number will be reduced 

 to about 278. If from these we abstract such as have 

 a range beyond the European hmits, the number may 

 be further reduced to about 250 : so that nearly two 

 thirds of the total number of birds found in Europe, 

 Northern Africa, and Western Asia, are zoologically cha- 

 racterised as peculiar to these countries. 



(36.) Another remarkable fact in European ornithology, 

 which deserves attention, is the great number of generic 

 types it contains, when viewed with reference to the num- 

 ber of species. These genera may be calculated at 108, 

 omitting some which have not been generally adopted, 

 and others which may more correctly be termed sec- 

 tions. The proportion which these genera bear to the 

 species (estimated before at 388) amounts to more than 

 two to seven ; or, in other words, does not give seven 

 birds to two genera. It is further remarkable, that 

 most of these genera are typical of their respective 

 families. True it is, that such genera are usually very 

 widely dispersed ; but in no division of the globe do 

 they appear so much concentrated, or so numerous in 

 proportion to the species, as in Europe. This remark 

 not only applies to the typical genera, but is frequently 

 applicable to the number of species they respectively 

 contain. One instance will illustrate our meaning. The 

 noble falcons, or those to which the generic name of 



