cal, at least so far as the birds are con- 

 cerned, we have first 



THE NEW ZEALAND REGION. 



Here we find the flightless Apteryx and 

 a flightless goose now extinct, also the ex- 

 tinct Moa. There are also peculiar forms 

 among the shore-birds, the birds of prey, 

 the parrots, and some rather curiously 

 constituted passerine birds. There have 

 been several species introduced in rela- 

 tively recent times, some of which al- 

 ready show signs of change. 



THE AUSTRALIAN REGION 



is but slightly connected with the preced- 

 ing. The line separating this region from 

 the Indian passes between the islands of 

 Bali and Lombok, through the Strait of 

 Macassar, between Borneo and Celebes, 

 thence northward between the Philippines 

 andSanguirandPelew ; including, further 

 on, the Ladrones, Hawaiians, all of Poly- 

 nesia except the northern outliers of the 

 New Zealand group, and finally sweeping 

 back to encompass Australia. Here we 

 find the curious egg-laying mammal, 

 Ornithorhynchus. But to pass at once 

 to the birds. Here we find such peculiar 

 forms as the megapodes, cassowaries, 

 sun-bitterns, birds-of-paradise, lyre- 

 birds, and many not so familiar. Of the 

 higher birds there are but few compared 

 with Europe or America. It is evidently 

 a continent which has long been sep- 

 arated from the rest of the world. 



THE NEOTROPICAL REGION 



includes, broadly, tropical America. The 

 forms found here bear certain resemblances 

 to those found in the two regions already 

 discussed; but this resemblance is prob- 

 ably rather because they are low in the 

 scale of development than that there has 

 ever been any direct land connection be- 

 tween them. Much the same conditions 

 of life must have prevailed for all, thus 

 making the rate of development nearly 

 equal. Here we find the rhea, tinamou 

 and hoactzin, which show low grade ; but 

 mingling freely with them the higher 

 forms which seem to have come down 

 from the north later and all but crowded 

 out these lower ones. There is abundant 

 evidence that the struggle for existence in 

 South America has been far less severe 

 than in North America. 



THE HOLARCTIC REGION, 



as the name implies, includes all of 

 North America, Europe, Asia north 

 of India, and the Himalaya moun- 

 tains, northern Africa where the 

 great Sahara forms the natural boun- 

 dary, and all islands belonging to the 

 north temperate and north frigid zones. 

 Many have divided this great belt into 

 Palearctic and Nearctic, but the inter- 

 mingling of species between northeast 

 Siberia and Alaska seems to make such a 

 distinction impracticable. But these dis- 

 tinctions should be and are retained in 

 the divisions of the Holarctic. When we 

 understand that at least one-third of the 

 species found in the Nearctic are also 

 found in the Palearctic, we shall under- 

 stand why these two are grouped under 

 one region. There are no orders, and 

 there seem to be no families which are 

 found in the Holarctic and nowhere else. 

 Indeed, it is difficult to find even genera 

 which do not have some species ranging 

 into the Neotropical, Ethiopian or In- 

 dian. But among the species we find 

 many. Indeed, there are few species 

 which nest in both the Holarctic and in 

 the regions bounding it on the south, and 

 many of these are found only on the 

 southern boundaries of the Holarctic. In 

 our part of the Holarctic, that is, the Ne- 

 arctic, the familiar birds about us do not 

 nest also in the tropical regions. 



THE ETHIOPIAN REGION, 



as the name suggests, includes the whole 

 of Africa except that portion north of 

 the Sahara desert, and Arabia and 

 Egypt, with Madagascar and other 

 islands in the immediate vicinity. 

 It seems hardly necessary to even 

 mention the forms that are pecu- 

 liar to this peculiar region. Even the 

 word Africa brings trooping to our 

 minds a whole continent of peculiarities 

 in more realms than one. Here we find 

 the Ostrich, the plantain eaters, the colies 

 and several other families — nine in all. 

 Of the lower groups there are the rollers, 

 bee-eaters, horn-bills, the curious secre- 

 tary-bird and many others. It is signifi- 

 cant that among the Passerine birds there 

 are but three families that are peculiar. 

 So on the whole, this region has not de- 

 veloped so rapidly as the Holarctic. 



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