DISTRIBUTION OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 21 



to Europe, Asia, and Southern Africa ; and twenty- 

 seven to Europe and North America : yet, notwith- 

 standing these deductions, there still remain twenty- 

 seven natatorial species (or nearly one half of the total 

 number found in Europe), as peculiar alone to the 

 European range. 



(26.) Among the Grallatores, or wading birds, we find 

 some species so widely dispersed, as to make us believe 

 the range of this order is even wider than that of the 

 swimming tribes : and this, generally speaking, may 

 be the fact. Of the sixty-five species described as 

 natives of Europe, thirteen only occur in America, and 

 but two can be denominated Arctic birds, although 

 several others occasionally frequent those regions : of 

 the remainder, four occur in Asia ; two in Asia and 

 Africa ; four in Asia and America; seven in Asia, Africa, 

 and America ; and the whimbrel {Numenius PhcRopus) 

 is said to be the same in all the five divisions of the 

 globe. It is, consequently, among the wading birds 

 that we find those whose range is most extensive ; yet, 

 on a general calculation, the number of species peculiar 

 to Europe is considerably greater than those of the 

 Natatores, the former being as one to two, the latter 

 nearly as one to four. This result is highly curious 

 and important, since it at once proves that, even among 

 birds of the most vagrant habits, the ornithology of 

 the European range is characterised by a decided su- 

 periority, in the number of its own peculiar species, over 

 those which equally inhabit other countries. 



(27.) The rapacious order, next to the aquatic tribes, 

 is, of all others inhabiting the land, the most widely 

 spread. This is particularly the case among the noc- 

 turnal [species. It is remarkable that, of thirteen 

 different owls inhabiting Europe, six only are peculiar, 

 and two of these more particularly inhabit the Arctic 

 regions. Of the rest, four occur in America, two in 

 Southern Africa, and one in both Asia and America, 

 The FalconidcE, or diurnal birds of prey, in regard to 



c 3 



