390 DR. L. F. DE BEAUFORT, BIRDS FROM DUTCH NEW GUINEA. 



the voice of différent birds of paradise. Hère and there the trees are replaced by bushes of 

 man 's height and thèse were the places where we found most of the Muscicapidae and the 

 small Diceaians. Some of the hills at Humboldt Bay and along the lake Sentani, as well as 

 some patches in the wood between thèse two were only covered with high grasses. It was 

 hère that Cisticola exilis and Munia spectabilis were collected. In the gardens of the Papuans 

 the fruit-trees were visited by Ptilinopus species and Philemons, which last were often found on 

 the Cocoapalms, together with Cinnyris aspasia and frenatus. Along the rivers Ceyx solitarius 

 was often observed and two species of Haliastur and a Pandion were seen fishing at 

 lake Sentani. 



We had our house on the isle of Meta Debi, an elevated sandbank in the Humboldt 

 Bay, where only Casuarina's and some Rhizophorae were growing. Artamus and Rhipidura 

 tricolor were constant visitors of thèse trees, while some species of Ptilotis too were very 

 common. On the sandy seashore, where the voice of Corvus orru was often heard, Tringoides 

 hypoleucus was very common in the first half of the year. 



It is a pity that Salvadori never fulfilled his promise, given in the Ornitologia délia 

 Papuasia, to publish a paper on the geographical distribution of the birds in New Guinea, 

 but as several excellent ornithologists hâve recently made a spécial study of the papuan 

 avifauna, we may hope that one of them will give us such a work in due time. Our know- 

 ledge of many parts of the island is still very incomplète and as recently many collections are 

 made or are going to be made, the time for such a work has perhaps not yet corne. 



At the moment I think that we can already recognize several ornithological areas in 

 New Guinea. Humboldt Bay lies almost in the middle of such an area, which embraces Japen 

 to the W. and goes eastwards as far as Huon Golf in German New Guinea, while we can't 

 say anything about the boundaries southwards for the présent. The avifauna of South New 

 Guinea in this latitude is very différent in many respects, and has more resemblance with 

 that of the S. E. and S. W. parts of the island. It is not improbable that a central mountain 

 range, perhaps a continuation of the Snowy Mountains, forms hère a boundary between the 

 fauna of North and South New Guinea. There are indications that the avifauna of the N. W. 

 peninsula has its own pecularities, while at the other hand components of the Northern and 

 the Southern fauna mingle hère. Rothschild and Hartert hâve already pointed to the fact 

 that the avifauna of Japen belongs to that of the north coast east ofGeelvink Bay and Kaiser 

 Wilhelmsland, and that the eastern boundary of this région is in the neighbourhood of Huon 

 Golf. Hère the birdfauna gets mixed with that of British New Guinea and that of the 

 Papuan islands in the Pacific. When we extract from the list of birds, known to inhabit Kaiser 

 Wilhelmsland, those that hâve a wide distribution, we find that the rest consists of 24 species 

 only known from this locality (amongst which are many mountain forms that may later be 

 found in other parts of the island), 1 1 that are also found in British N. Guinea but not in North 

 Dutch New Guinea, while 24 are only found in Kaiser Wilhelmsland and in North Dutch 

 New Guinea and partly in Japen (Jobi). 



Ninety-nine species of birds are known to inhabit Jobi, of which 70 are of wide 

 distribution. The rest consists of 1 1 indigenous species, 3 only known from Japen and North 

 Dutch N. Guinea and 15 also inhabiting Kaiser Wilhelmsland; amongst the 70 other species 

 however there are 5 that are not known from North Dutch N. Guinea, east ofGeelvink Bay or 



