﻿58 Canadian Record of Science. 



confined to two of the smaller islands, and are the only 

 representatives of their respective orders. 



This region forms, therefore, a veritable Paradise for 

 birds : no monkeys to steal their eggs — no cats to devour 

 the parents ; no wonder that they greatly vary and 

 increase. Of land birds there are about 200 different 

 species (all Europe has only about 250) ; and of this 200 

 about 150 are of species pecidia?- to the Moluccas. 



Three or four years ago Mr. H. J. Tiffin presented the 

 Museum with two cases of birds, most of wdiich came 

 from the Malay region. These I have lately been re- 

 arranging and naming, and find quite a number of inter- 

 esting species among them. 



Mr. Tiffin tells me that he purchased them at Singapore^ 

 about twenty-six years ago, at a large store where they 

 had been taken in exchange from some of the Malay 

 traders. 



The Malays go round in their native boats to collect 

 produce from the various islands, and many of these birds 

 must have been procured in Gilolo — the largest of the 

 Moluccas — as they belong to species that are peculiar ta 

 that island. 



The rarest of these is a specimen of Wallace's EaiL 

 {Hahro'ptila Wallacei^), found only in Gilolo. There are 

 several specimens of this bird in European museums, but 

 few, if any, on this side the Atlantic. 



It is allied to the Weka Eail of New Zealand, which in 

 its turn is allied to the Kiwi or Apteryx ; so that our Eail 

 forms one of the links that unite the winged with the 

 almost wingless examples of bird life. 



As illustrating the opposite extreme in wings, there is 

 a specimen of the Great -winged Swift {Macropteryx 

 mystacca), the largest representative of its family, and 

 found only in this region. 



The Great Black Pitta {Pitta maxima) is one of the 



I The scientific names are those used in the British Museum Catalogue of Birds. 



