THE RED-FOOTED KESTREL. 15 



which is found in tropical Africa, and also in Asia. 

 Though these continents are now separated by 

 such a vast extent of ocean, there are certain 

 forms of animals which are common to both these 

 distant lands. Thus, in the forest region of West 

 Africa, which extends from the southern districts 

 of Senegambia to the Coanza river in Angola, 

 and thence along the Congo system up to the 

 western watershed of the Nile and Equatorial 

 Africa, we find Ant-Thrushes (Pitta), and many 

 forms of forest-loving genera of birds, such as 

 Babblers (Turdinus and Trichostoma), none of 

 which are again encountered till we come to the 

 Indian and Malayan regions. With the Cuckoo- 

 Falcons this same remarkable distribution also 

 obtains. Thus we find one species, Baza 

 cuculoides, occurring in West Africa, from Sene- 

 gambia to the Congo, while in Natal a second 

 species is found, viz., B. verreauxi, and a third, 

 B. madagascariensis, inhabits Madagascar. Then 

 we find no species of Baza in any other part of 

 Africa, but in Ceylon and in Southern India the 

 ■genus again occurs, and then successive species, 

 each confined to a limited area, are dotted all 

 over the Malayan Archipelago, till the last 



