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Notices of New Books, 



Southern India, in the Indian and the Burmese rollers, the small 

 cuckoos of S. India and those of Bengal, and in several other instances : 

 but that this fact militates against their being species, and in favour 

 of their being varieties, I think is not supported by many recent expe- 

 riments in crossing. Of late years many species have been universally 

 admitted as such, which were formerly considered simple varieties ; 

 and although, perhaps, the tendency of late writers has been to multi- 

 ply species, in some cases most unnecessarily, yet in previous years 

 the other extreme was taken, more especially by Schlegel and his fol- 

 lowers. Our best naturalists and ornithologists now fully recognize 

 the distinctness of permanent races. If varieties are once allowed, it 

 depends on individual judgment or caprice to what extent they may 

 be carried. In this country, where there are many very closely 

 allied species among genera characteristic of the country, many of the 

 species of Malacocircus and Hsematornis would be classed as simple 

 varieties by some ; whilst others would perhaps allow some of them, 

 whose different notes they might have observed, to be distinct species, 

 and the rest varieties. Lastly, it is, I think, more convenient in prac- 

 tice to give each race a distinct specific name, than to speak of them 

 as var. A or var. B of such a species. 



" It is beyond the scope of the present Introduction to enter into 

 the question of the origin of affined species. They may originally 

 have sprung from type species, as Darwin teaches, and remained per- 

 manent in such localities as suited them, and not in others ; or they 

 may at once have been created as distinct species, and their place on 

 earth fixed for them. We rarely find one trespassing far on the limits 

 of the other; but where they do so meet, hybrids are not uncommon ; 

 but such hybrids do not appear to spread beyond the district where 

 the two meet. As far as our brief experience goes, geographic distri- 

 bution is against Mr. Darwin's theory. To give one example, — Ma- 

 lacocircus striatus of Ceylon is more allied to M. bengalensis of 

 Bengal than to M. malabaricus, which is spread throughout a vast 

 region between those provinces. Other examples will occur to the 

 Indian ornithologist. In a vast province like India "we have nume- 

 rous instances of very closely allied races or species, especially when 

 we compare the birds of India proper with those of the countries to 

 the east of the Bay of Bengal ; and many representative species, as 

 Mr. Blyth aptly calls them, are found in Northern and Southern 

 India, and in the Burmese countries, in some cases extending to a 

 fourth race in malayana." — {Introduction, p. xxvi.) 



Edward Newman. 



