﻿CONCLUDING BBMAEKS. 



The scheme of geographical distribution proposed by Professor Huxley (P. Z. S. 1868, 

 p. 294) does not differ so much from that of Dr. Sclater as to invalidate any of the facts 

 stated in the foregoing pages. Professor Huxley is doubtless right in recognizing a northern 

 and a southern division of the globe instead of an eastern and a western, and he divides the 

 earth into four regions, viz.: 1. Arctogaea; 2. Austro-Columbia; 3-. Australasia; 4. New 

 Zealand. These divisions have chiefly reference to the Alectoromorphce, which Professor 

 Huxley was at that time discussing; but it may be interesting to study the geographical 

 distribution of Kingfishers by the light of this paper, and see how far it coincides with the 

 regions above indicated. 



In Arctogaea the extent of territory enclosed is very large, and, admitting the subdivisions 

 proposed by Dr. Sclater, no points are seriously called in question regarding what I have 

 stated about the geographical distribution of Kingfishers. In Notogaea the line that marks 

 the northern limit of Austro-Columbia exactly coincides with the line of demarcation that 

 would be drawn to mark the range of the six species which I have shown to be peculiar to 

 South America; so that on that point I am at one with Professor Huxley. But I do not 

 find the geographical distribution of Kingfishers coincide exactly with the limits he has 

 drawn for his third region, of Australasia; for his line passes northward including the 

 Xicobars, then southward round the Indo-Malayan islands, follows Wallace's line up the 

 Straits of Macassar, and cuts off the Philippines from the Indo-Malayan subregion. It is on 

 this point that the Kingfishers do not entirely agree with Professor Huxley's scheme ; for all 

 the species inhabiting the Philippines are, as I have shown, of a strictly Indian form. 

 Beyond this, however, the geographical distribution of the Alcedinidce coincides with Pro- 

 fessor Huxley's idea of distribution ; for his fourth region, New Zealand, is not affected one 

 way or the other. Only one species is found there closely allied to the common Australian 

 Halcyon sancta ; and it has most probably been this species which has reached New Zealand 

 from the Australian continent, and when once settled there has, under more favourable 

 conditions of life, assumed a larger size but less brilliant coloration, as seems to have been 

 the case with other birds. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



The question not unnaturally arises, "What are the nearest allies of the Kingfishers'?" 

 To answer this question I must again have recourse to Mr. Wallace's paper on the " Natural 

 Arrangement of Birds," in which he comes to the conclusion that, while on the one hand 

 the (I'tl/jiffidce, Buccovidw, Meropidce, Coraciadce, Trogonidw, and Prionitidce are all more or 

 less allied to the Kingfishers, on the other hand their nearest allies are the Hornbills 

 (Binrrotidu). The following extract from Mr. Wallace's essay gives his conclusions in his 

 own words : — 



" From an examination of the structure of the feet and toes, and from a consideration of 



