CHAPTER XVIIT. 



JAPAN AND FORMOSA. 



Japan, its position and Physical features— Zoological features of Japan — 

 Mammalia — Birds — Birds common to Great Britain and Japan —Birds 

 peculiar to Japan — Japan birds recurring in distant areas — Formosa — 

 Physical features of Formosa— Animal life of Formosa — Mammalia — 

 Land-birds peculiar to Formosa — Formosan birds recurring in India or 

 Malaya — Comparison of faunas of Hainan, Formosa, and Japan — 

 General remarks on Eecent Continental Islands. 



Japan. 



The Japanese Islands occupy a very similar position on the 

 eastern shore of the great Euro-Asiatic continent to that of the 

 British Islands on the western, except that they are about 

 sixteen degrees further south, and having a greater extension 

 in latitude, enjoy a more varied as well as a more temperate 

 climate. Their outline is also much more irregular and their 

 mountains loftier, the volcanic peak of Fusiyama being 14,177 

 feet high ; while their geological structure is very complex, their 

 soil extremely fertile, and their vegetation in the highest degree 

 varied and beautiful. Like our own islands, too, they are con- 

 nected with the continent by a marine bank less than a hundred 

 fathoms below the surface — at all events towards the north and 

 south ; but in the intervening space the Sea of Japan opens out 

 to a width of six hundred miles, and in its central portion is 

 very deep, and this may be an indication that the connection 

 between the islands and the continent is of rather ancient 

 date. At the Straits of Corea the distance from the main 

 land is about 120 miles, while at the northern extremity of 



