14 BIKDS. 



Birds of Paradise, Honey-Suckers, and some remarkable Fly-Catchers. The Birds 

 of Paradise, Eacket-tailed Kingfisher, the largest and the smallest of the Parrot 

 tribe, and the Crowned Pigeons are very characteristic. Hornbills do not extend 

 beyond the Solomon Islands. 



(6) The Australian subregion includes the island itself and Tasmania. Out of; 

 630 species, nearly 490 are land birds, of which not more than twenty-five are 

 found elsewhere. It is rich in Parrots, having several very peculiar forms, and 

 poor in Picarians, certain Kingfishers, and Pigeons. It possesses two extraordinary 

 families of abnormal Passeres, the Lyre Birds {MenuridcB) and the Scrub Birds- 

 (AtrichiidoR), the only two species of Emeu (one West, one East — the Emeu ini 

 Tasmania is extinct), and all the Bower Birds (PtilonorhyncMdm), except twa 

 genera, which are both found in New Guinea. It is also the exclusive home of 

 the Ocellated Megapodes (Leipoa). 



(c) The Polynesian subregion, which extends from one tropic to the other 

 throughout 90° of long. It includes — 



The Palau (Pelew), Caroline, and Ladrone Islands. 



New Hebrides and New Caledonia. 



Central Polynesia (Fijian, Tongan, and Samoan groups). 



The clusters from Cook's Islands to the Marquesas, with the Society Islands- 

 and the Low Archipelago. 



The Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands. 



Amongst the peculiar genera are a Eeed "Warbler {Psmmathia) in the Palau' 

 Islands ; the Kagu (Bhinochetus) in New Caledonia ; the Manu-mea, or Tooth- 

 billed Pigeon (Didunculus) in the Samoan Islands, and a brevi-pennate Water-Hen 

 (Parendiasies) from Savai. The Sandwich Islands possess all the Drepanididce^ 

 and nine genera of small (Passerine) land birds, including two species of Honey- 

 Suckers. There is also a Coot (Fulica alai) and the well-known Sandwich 

 Island Goose (Bernida sandvicensis), which has been very commonly domesticated 

 in Europe. 



(d) The New Zealand subregion includes its own three islands and surroundings, 

 as Lord Howe's, Norfolk, and Kermadoc islands, with the Chatham, Auckland, 

 and Macquarrie groups. This subregion was inhabited by the gigantic species of 

 Dinornis (the hallux obsolete), now extinct, and by the extinct forms (with hallux 

 present) Palapteryx and Euryapteryx. The most characteristic living form is 

 the Apteryx, but one almost as remarkable is the Owl-like Parrot {Stringops= 

 habroptilus). The flightless Weka Eail, or Woodhen {Ocydromus australis) ; the 

 Takahe (Notornis mantelli), a flightless Coot-like bird; the Parson Bird {Prosthema- 

 dera novce zealandice); and the Huia Bird {Heteralocha acutirostris) are noteworthy 

 peculiar forms. The genus of Parrots (Nestor) is also peculiar, and it is one of 

 these, the Kea Parrot (N. notdbilis), which is so destructive to sheep. A genus- 

 of ducks (Nesonetta) is said to be peculiar to the Auckland Islands. 



2. The Neotropical Kegion (veos — new, T/aoTrtKos— tropical), the tropical 

 division of the New World, embraces the whole of S. America, from Cape Horn 

 to the isthmus of Panama, all Central America, and reaches in N. America (the- 

 central plateau of Mexico excluded), to about 22° N. lat. It includes th& 

 Falkland Isles to the S.E. ; the Galapagos to the W. ; and the Antilles, or West- 

 India Islands, up to the Florida Channel. Of birds peculiar to the- region are 

 three species of Ehea, the Tinamous, and the Hoatzins. Of birds chiefly restricted 



