CECOLOGICAL 73 



ities recognise. Let it suffice to say that here is the home of 

 the Birds of Paradise and of the Bower-birds ; of the remark- 

 able Lyre-bird, and of the Emus and Cassowaries, concerning 

 which last we have already had something to say. Many 

 peculiar forms of Parrots occur here, and this region is also to 

 be regarded as the headquarters of the remarkable " Brush 

 Turkeys," or Megapodes. Some of the most remarkable of 

 known Kingfishers and Divers belong to this region, and 

 here also occurs that aberrant Crane the Kagu {Rhino chcstus) — 

 a very strange form confined to the Island of New Caledonia — 

 and that anomalous bird the Black Swan. 



The New Zealand Region 



While some choose to regard New Zealand as an Australian 

 sub-region, others prefer to regard it as entitled to rank as an 

 independent region, since it harbours the most remarkable and 

 interesting of insular faunas. 



Here, almost within historic times, lived the Moa; and 

 here to-day dwells the curious and aberrant Apteryx. The re- 

 markable and flightless Weka-rail, and the still more remark- 

 able flightless Giant Gallinule Notornis are products of this 

 I'egion. The last-named was first described from fossil remains. 

 A year or two later, to the delight and surprise of Ornitho- 

 logists, a living example was found, and since, three others 

 have been obtained. By some, however, the fossil remains are 

 regarded as specifically distinct from these later captures. 

 This determination, however, is open to question. The flight- 

 less Parrot known as the Kakapo is another of New Zealand's 

 peculiar birds. This region, indeed, possesses a larger number 

 of flightless birds than any other in the world ; and this because 

 the conditions of existence all tended to favour the development 

 of such types, there being no carnivorous mammals to contend 

 with, an abundance of food,' and an equable climate. The 

 Giant Moas, it must be remembered, were flightless ; indeed, 

 so long had they thriven in this condition that the fore-limb 

 had actually become so completely suppressed as to leave not 

 a trace of its existence behind. And besides this, we have to 

 record a giant flightless Goose {Cnemiornis) allied to the 

 Cereopsis Goose of Australia. The curious Wrybill Plover 

 {Anarhynckus) and the equally strange Huia-bird must also be 



