44 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART I 



whydah finches (Vidua), the curious ox-peckers (Buphaga), 

 the splendid metallic starlings (Lamprocolius), the hand- 

 some plantain-eaters (Musophaga), the ground-hornbills 

 (Bucorvus), the numerous guinea-fowls belonging to four 

 distinct genera, the serpent-eating secretary-bird (Serpent- 

 arius), the huge boat-billed heron (Balseniceps), and the 

 true ostriches. There are also three quite peculiar 

 African families, the Musophagidse or plantain-eaters, 

 including the elegant crested touracos ; the curious 

 little finch-like colies (Coliidae), and the Irrisoridae, 

 insect-eating birds allied to the hoopoes but with glossy 

 metallic plumage and arboreal habits. 



In reptiles, fishes, insects, and land-shells, Africa is very 

 rich, and possesses an immense number of peculiar forms. 

 These are not sufficiently familiar to require notice in a 

 work of this character, but we may mention a few as mere 

 ilhistrations : the puff-adders, the most hideous of poisonous 

 snakes ; the chameleons, the most remarkable of lizards ; 

 the goliath-beetles, the largest and handsomest of the 

 Cetoniidse ; and some of the Achatina3, which are the 

 largest of all known land-shells. 



Definition and Characteristic GroujJS of the Oriental 

 Region. — The Oriental region comprises all Asia south of 

 the Pala^arctic limits, and along with this the Malay 

 Islands as far as the Philippines, Borneo, and Java. It 

 was called the Indian region by Mr. Sclater, but this term 

 has been objected to because the Indo-Chinese and Malayan 

 districts are the richest and most characteristic, while the 

 peninsula of India is the poorest portion of it. The name 

 " Oriental " has therefore been adopted in my work on 

 The Geographical Distribution of Animals as preferable to 

 either Malayan or Indo-Australian, both of which have 

 been proposed, but are objectionable, as being already in 

 use in a different sense. 



The great features of the mammals of the Oriental region 

 are, the long-armed apes, the orang-utans, the tiger, the 

 sun-bears and honey-bears, the tapir, the chevrotains or 

 mouse-deer, and the Indian elej^hant. Its most conspicuous 

 birds are the immense number and variety of babbling- 

 thrushes (Timaliidse), its beautiful little hill-tits (Liotrich- 

 idaj), its green bulbuls (Phyllornithidae), its many varieties 



