352 



ISLAND LIFE. [part ii 



connecting land is covered with water, that the amount of 

 speciality is hardly, if at all, greater than occurs in many con- 

 tinental areas of equal extent, This will be more evident if we 

 consider that Borneo is as large as the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, 

 or as the Indian Peninsula south of Bombay, and if either of 

 these countries were separated from the continent by the sub- 

 mergence of the whole area north of them as far as the Hima- 

 layas, they would be found to contain about as many peculiar 

 genera and species as Borneo actually does now. A more deci- 

 sive test of the lapse of time since the separation took place is 

 to be found in the presence of a number of representative 

 species closely allied to those of the surrounding countries, such 

 as the tailed monkeys and the numerous squirrels. These, how- 

 ever, are best seen among the birds, which have been more 

 thoroughly collected and more carefully studied than the 

 mammalia. 



Birds. — About 400 species of birds are known to inhabit 

 Borneo, of which 340 are land birds. There are about seventy 

 peculiar species ; and, according to Count Salvador!, thirty-four 

 of these (thirty -nine with later additions) are very distinct forms, 

 while no less than thirty-one are slight modifications of species 

 found in Sumatra or the Malay Peninsula. The following are 

 the species of birds considered by Count Salvador! to be peculiar 

 to Borneo, with the addition of a few species since added : — ■ 



First Series. 

 Very distinct Species. 



Second Series. 

 Representative Species. 



Strigid^ (Owls). 



1. Ninox borneensis. 



2. Ciccaba leptogrammica. 



MEGAL^MiDiE (Barbets). 



3. Chotorea chrysopsis. 



4. Calorhamplius fuliginosus. 



PiciDiE (Woodpeckers). 



5. Hemilophus fischeri. 



6. Jungipicus aurantiiventris. 



7. Micropterniis badiosus. 



CucuLiD^E (Cuckoos). 



1. Indicator archipelagiis. 



2. Ileterococcyx iieglectus. 



8. Rhopodytes borneensis. 



