244 THE ORIGIN OF WEST INDIA BIRD-LIFE 



are to the mainland. One family (Todiclse) and 38 genera are 

 peculiar. The latter are represented by 96 species, leaving 209 

 species belonging to genera of North, South, or Central America \ 

 but for the most part they have no near mainland allies, and in 

 comparatively few cases can we point with probable exactness to 

 their continental ancestors. In other words, taken as a whole, 

 the endemic birds of the West Indies are widely differentiated 

 from their parent stock. 



Considering now the fauna! relationships of the islands inter 

 se, we find at once that they can be divided into the two groups 

 of physical geographers — the Greater and the Lesser Antilles. 

 With the former belong the Virgin islands and St Croix; with 

 the latter Sombrero, Anguilla, and the other islands east of the 

 Anegada channel and southward to and including Grenada. 

 While some genera (e. g., Myiadestes and Quiscalus) are repre- 

 sented by more or less closely allied species in both the Greater 

 and Lesser Antilles, and while certain species characteristic of 

 each group (e. g., Margarops, Bellona, and Mimocichla spp.) intrude 

 to some extent into the o'ther, their avifauna? are quite unlike. 

 The more distinct West Indian species are found only in the 

 Greater Antilles. Thus the Todidse are represented in each of 

 the larger islands of the Greater Antilles, but are known in the 

 Lesser Antilles. In short, the relationships of the avifauna of 

 these two groups are quite in accord with Mr Agassiz's statement 

 that " the Windward islands were probably raised long after the 

 range of the greater West Indian islands existed * * *"* 



Some 108 resident land birds have been found in the Lesser 

 Antilles. Sixteen of these are South American, of which thir- 

 teen occur in the Lesser but not in the Greater Antilles, and 

 fourteen are West Indian species, which occur in both the 

 Greater and the Lesser Antilles. Eight genera are peculiar, 

 whereas in the Greater Antilles twenty-four genera are peculiar. 

 These eight genera contain seventeen species upon whose origin 

 we can only speculate. Subtracting them from the eighty-one 

 endemic land birds, we have left sixty-four species, which may 

 be grouped according to their apparent relationships as follows: 



Tropical....' 22 



South American 19 



West Indian . . . . ■ 23 



The South American element here shown to be present in the 

 Lesser Antilles at once suggests the possibility of a former land 



* Three Cruises of the Blake, ii, p. 11?., foot-note. 



