SOUTHERN ASIA. — BIRDS. 



51 



(Bucco L.), the singular short-legged thrushes (Brachy- 

 pus Sw.), the long-legged or aquatic thrushes {Cratero- 

 piis Sw.), the elegant little finches {Estrelda Sw.), the 

 short-billed weavers, or grosbeaks {Amadina Sw.), the 

 shining black-coloured grakles {Lamprotornis Tem.), 

 and the splendid httle sun-birds (Cinnyris Cuv.). All 

 these groups extend to the warm latitudes of Africa, and 

 several are not unknown in the Australian range; yet in 

 Asia they seem confined to the southern region, since no 

 examples have occurred either in Persia or Asia Minor, 

 much less in Siberia or Europe. 



(70.) On turning to the ornithological groups which 

 nature has exclusively restricted to Southern Asia, we 

 find this region stamped by very distinct pecuharities. 

 The vivid.coloureci ant-thrushes (Pitta), with their re- 

 presentatives the green bulbuls (Chloropsis Jard.), the 

 superb Jdra or black and azure oriole (lora Horsf.), the 

 true grakles {Gracula L.) the fork-tailed wagtails {Eni- 

 curus Tem.), the bullfinch larks (Mirafra Horsf.), the 

 broad-tailed thrushes (Timalia H.), and lastly, the 

 singular nightfeeders (Nyctiornis Sw.), are all promi- 

 nent examples of Indian ornithology, of which no species 

 are to be found in other parts of the world. The rhi- 

 noceros hornbill (fig. 15.), one of the largest and scarcest 



^iW 



its family, is among the most remarkable birds of India. 

 But perhaps the most striking birds, to the general observer 



E 2 



