GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 19 



of land birds, 34 have a wide range, 32 are characteristic of the Palsearctic, 29 of 

 the Indian, and 21 of the Himalo-Chinese subregion. Only one species is 

 peculiar to Kashmir, a very normal Bullfinch (Pyrrhula). 



Nepal is said to have 294 genera of land birds. Of these 62 are of wide 

 range, 30 are characteristic of the Palsearctic, 122 of the Indian region, while 

 80 are characteristic of the Himalaya. 



Sikkim seems to be richer still. Excluding the Accipitres, there are here 

 found 423 species of land birds, of which 270 do not occur out of the Himalaya 

 except as migrants or stragglers. 



Assam seems to resemble Sikkim, but it has sixteen species which are not 

 found in Sikkim, and of these one-half are Burmese. On its southern boundary 

 there are a few genera which are not actually found in the Himalaya. 



Burma and Tenasserim, the valley of the Irawadi, Aracan, and Pegu are very 

 fairly known. Of 373 species of land birds, 97 are common to India and the 

 rest to the Malay peninsula, 193 more are found in India and 27 in the penin- 

 sula alone, while 46 are peculiar to Burma or to Burma and Tenasserim. Inr 

 Tenasserim there are 313 species of land birds, 93 being common to India and 

 ,the rest to the peninsula, 117 more being found in India and 56 in the peninsula 

 alone, while 47 are peculiar to Tenasserim or to Tenasserim and Burma. This 

 country is especially rich, in species of the peculiarly Indian family Eurylmmidce. 



The groups of islands, the Andamans and the Nicobars, from the similarity of 

 their' avifauna to that of Pegu, are included in this subregion. Lord Walden 

 ,thinks the Andamans have a greater affinity to the highlands of India south of 

 the Himalaya and west of the Brahmaputra, while Mr. Hume considers both 

 groups to form an outlying bit of the proper Indian subregion on which many 

 foreign intruders have Established themselves. Many families which are common 

 in Burma are wanting in the Andamans. The Andamans possess an avifauna 

 of some 155 species, 17 of which (all land birds) are peculiar. The precise 

 number of species in the Nicobars is not known, but Mr. Hume gives 10 as 

 peculiar to that group, which is inhabited by two very noteworthy forms — 

 ■Calomas, a very remarkable genus of Columhidoe, widely spread throughout the 

 Malayan archipelago, and a species of Megapodius, belonging to one of the most 

 characteristic families of the Australian region. The presence of these two 

 forms inclines one to place the Moobars in the Malayan subregion. 



Ill China and its islands 675 species are enumerated. In Formosa 144 species, 

 assorted, as 74 of wide range, 47 common to Himalayan and Malayan subregions, 

 and 5 to China itself; 18 are not found in the Malayan subregion, and no less 

 than 34 are peculiar to the island. In Hainan 130 species, of which 54 belong 

 to wide-ranging genera, 59 to genera characteristic of the Indian, and 16 of the 

 Palsearctic region, while 16 are believed to be peculiar to the island. 



(b) The Indian subregion. This consists of the remainder of the peninsula 

 of India lying to the S. and W. of the last, as well as the island of Ceylon. For 

 the Punjab there is no complete list of the birds, and we may infer that here we 

 shall find the Malayan influence at its least, and the Palsearctic at its greatest. 

 In Sind 150 species have been observed, of which 41 are peculiarly desert forms, 

 and as such either very nearly allied to or identical with the like forms of the 

 Palaearctic and Ethiopian regions; 40 are peculiar to the Indian subregion; 8 are 

 common to the Malayan; 4 to the non-desert portions of the Ethiopian; and 12 



