118 ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANIMALS. 



nea. New Ireland, New Caledonia, and the little islands 

 surrounding them, constitutes the remote and little- 

 known region of the paradise birds. None of these 

 magnificent creatures have been actually detected beyond 

 the shores of New Guinea, although it is generally be- 

 lieved that they annually migrate for a few months to 

 the small islands adjoining. Notwithstanding the prox- 

 imity of the Asiatic islands, they have not as yet fur- 

 nished any species intimately related to the paradise 

 birds ; yet in the New Holland genus Ptiloris, we have • 

 a bird so closely related to this family, that we know 

 not whether, in fact, it does not belong to it. The flying 

 phalangers of Australasia seem to be represented in 

 New Guinea by the genus Cuscus of M. Lesson. The 

 affinity between the zoology of the two countries is 

 established in various ways. The great crab-eaters 

 {Dacelo Leach), the bald-faced honey-suckers (Philedon 

 Cuv.), the helmet-crows {^Barrita Cuv.), and the Vanga 

 shrikes {Vanga Tem.), are so many indications of Aus- 

 tralian ornithology. The carinated flycatchers (^Mon- 

 archa H. and V.) again, no less than all the preceding 

 groups, occur both in New Guinea and in New Hol- 

 land, but are unknown in any other country. The 

 splendid promerops (Epimachus Cuv.), the paradise 

 birds, and the king oriole (^Sericulus chrysocephalus Sw.) 

 are peculiar to this first division. 



(16'8.) The great island of New Holland, or rather 

 Australia Proper, may be looked upon as the centre of 

 Australian zoology, since the geographic range of its 

 animals is circumscribed even more strictly than those 

 of New Guinea. The kangaroos and the duckbills 

 (Ornithorhynchus), for instance, are only found here 

 and in Van Diemen's Land : the ground parrakeets 

 {Pezoporus 111.), the lyre-tail {Menura Sw.), the typi- 

 cal honeysuckers, the flat-tailed lories {Platycercus 

 H. and V.), the superb warblers (Malurus Vieil.), and 

 several others among the perching birds, might be in- 

 stanced as purely Australian groups. The genus Pa- 

 chycephaln Sw., or great-headed chatterers, are entirely 



