50 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART I 



latter are really quite distinct, and that there is not a single 

 true flycatcher of the family Muscicapidse, or a single 

 starling of the family Sturnidse in the whole continent, 

 while there are very few true warblers (Sylviidse), their 

 place being taken by the quite distinct families Mniotiltidso 

 or wood-warblers, and Vireonida3 or greenlets. In like 

 manner the flycatchers of America belong to the totally 

 distinct family of tyrant-birds, Tyrannidse, and those that 

 look like starlings to the hang-nests, Icteridse ; and these 

 four peculiar families comprise about a hundred and 

 twenty species, and give a special character to the 

 ornithology of the country. Add to these such peculiar 

 birds as the mocking thrushes (Mimus), the blue jays 

 (Cyanocitta), the tanagers, the peculiar genera of cuckoos 

 (Coccygus and Crotophaga), the humming-birds, the wild 

 turkeys (Meleagris), and the turkey-buzzards (Cathartes), 

 and we see that if there is any doubt as to the mammals 

 of North America being sufficiently distinct to justify the 

 creation of a separate region, the evidence of the birds 

 would alone settle the question. 



The reptiles, and some others of the lower animials, add 

 still more to this weight of evidence. The true rattle- 

 snakes are highly characteristic, and among the lizards are 

 several genera of the peculiar American family, the 

 Iguanidse. Nowhere in the world are the tailed bat- 

 rachians so largely develoiDed as in this region, the Sirens 

 and the Amphiumidse forming two peculiar families, while 

 there are nine peculiar genera of salamanders, and two 

 others allied respectively to the Proteus of Europe and the 

 Sieboldia or giant salamander of Japan. There are seven 

 peculiar families and about thirty peculiar genera of 

 fresh-water fishes ; while the fresh-water molluscs are more 

 numerous than in any other region, more than thirteen 

 hundred species and varieties having been described. 



Combining the evidence derived from all these classes of 

 animals, we find the Nearctic region to be exceedingly well 

 characterised, and to be amply distinct from the Palsearctic. 

 The few species that are common to the two are almost all 

 arctic, or, at least, northern types, and may be compared 

 with those desert forms which occupy the debatable ground 

 between the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental regions. 



