244 ELEMENTS OF OENITHOIOGY. 



Plovera {Mgialitis sanctce-Tielence) which is found nowhere else 

 in the world. 



The East-African subregion has rather complex relations with 

 the three subregions already described ; but many absolutely 

 pecuUar forms have not yet been satisfactorily determined. 



The Madagascar or the Mascarene subregion, which is so very 

 peculiar in its beasts, possesses also, as might be expected, a 

 very distinct avifauna. 



A large number of genera are peculiar to it. More than tvvo 

 hundred species of birds are known to be its inhabitants, of 

 which 120 are land-birds, five-sixths of which are absolutely 

 peculiar to the island. But it contains ordinary as well as 

 peculiar kinds, and there is a slight Malayan element, and also 

 some British species. The now extinct Dodo, Solitaire, and 

 JEpyornis * were birds of this subregion. The Dodo inhabited 

 Mauritius, the Solitaire was found in Eodriguez, and jEpyornis 

 was peculiar to Madagascar itself. In the smaller islands several 

 other kinds of birds have also recently become extinct ; while 

 their remaining avifauna is very distinct. Thus Professor 

 Newton affirms that, though Mauritius and Reunion lie within 

 sight of each other and possess about the same number of species, 

 they do not appear to possess more than three in common. 



The Indian Region is the home of the most gorgeous Gallina- 

 ceous birds — the Peacock, the Argus, Pire-backed, Polyplectron, 

 and other Pheasants. It is also the home of the Jungle-fowl, 

 and possesses exclusively most of the Asiatic Hornbills. Sun- 

 birds are found throughout the region, with Barbets, Cuckoos, 

 Bee-eaters, brUliant Kingfishers, the glossy, noisy Mynahs 

 {Eulabes), and more than twenty peculiar genera. Indeed, 

 three whole families of birds — the Hill-tits or Liotriehidce, the 

 Bulbuls or Pycnonotidce, and the Broadbills or Eurylmmidoe — 

 are peculiar to it. 



Of its two subregions, the Malayan one is distinguished by 

 exhibiting some striking and interesting approximations to the 

 bird-fauna of the Australian region. Thus in the Philippines 

 we have a Cockatoo of the Australian genus Oacatua, and there, 

 as well as in the Nicobar Islands and Borneo, the Australian 

 mound-building Megapodim is met with. Hornbills are very 

 characteristic of the subregion, as is likewise the Argus Pheasant, 



* Other extinct forms from this subregion have been already noticed • 

 see ante, p. 238. 



