BIRDS OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASM. 



BIRDS of the South and East of Asia. 



Murgli Hind. 



Avis JjAT. 



Burling Malay. 



Manuk „ 



Paksi „ 



P&ksi 



Parinda Fees. 



Patchi Tam. 



Kurvi 



Pitta Tel. 



Pitti „ 



irgli Arab. 



ir » 



Qet... ■• BuBM. 



uri DuK, 



seau Fr. 



ni^ ■■■ Gr. 



niaes (Plur.) „ 



■M Ger. 



i^ipor Heb. 



jriah Hind. 



Tlie birds of India are scarcely less beautiful 

 m numerous. Perhaps the clioicest of them 

 are those of the Himalayan pheasant tribe, 

 ds distinguished for their very grace- 

 and rich plumage and the beautiful para- 

 . sue birds of the Eastern Archipelago. The 

 i.malayan bustard is remarkable for its form 

 d varied colour. Peacocks, eagles, falcons, 

 Utures, kites, cranes, wild geese, wild fowl, 

 lipes, bustard, parrots, and parroquets, the 

 ter in every conceivable variety, abound in 

 dia at various seasons. — In England, on 

 ,ie return of spring, 



" Kvery copse 

 Deep tangled, tree irregular, and bush 

 Bending with dewy moisture o'er the heads 

 Of the coy quiristers that lodge within. 

 Are prodigal of harmony, 



lilt, in the tropics generally, there are few 

 oropeans who will dare the sun to search for 

 'te beauties of Nature ; as a rule, the natives 

 E- and S. of Asia do not pay any attention 

 natural phenomena, and comparatively little 

 known of the songs of birds. Few can say 

 ilith the rustic poet Clare, 



" I've often tried when tending sheep or cow, 



With bits of grass and peels of oaten straw, 



To whistle like the birds. The thrush would start 



To hear her song of praise and fly away ; 



The blackbird never cared, but sang again ; 



The nightingale's pure song I would not try. 



And when the thrush would mock her song, she paused 



And sang another song no bird could do. 



She sang when all were dune, and beat them all," 



The Birds of Eastern aud Southern Asia 

 ive been described by many naturalists. In 

 331 a Catalogue of birds collected by Major 

 ranklin, on the banks of the Ganges and the 

 indhian range of mountains was published 

 I the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 

 oondon. This comprised 156 species, of which 

 iGore than 20 were described for the first time, 



any of them very comn;on birds, as Otis 



bengalensis, Timalia, Chatarrhoea, Alauda gui- 

 gula, Mirafra phsenicura, &c., &c. Notwith- 

 standing the difference of latitude in which 

 these were collected, there are only 6 or 7 

 which Dr. Jerdoa has not since met with in 

 Southern India, which shows the very great 

 similarity of the ornithology of India through- 

 out. But this similarity continues to the birds 

 of the Indo-Malay region, viz., the Western 

 part of the Archipelago, which also have a close 

 resemblance to those of India, There is not a 

 single family group peculiar to Indo-Malaya 

 and there are only fifteen peculiar genera, but, 

 as might be expected, a very large portion of 

 the species are quite distinct. There is more 

 similarity between the Burmese, Siamese and 

 Malayan countries and Indo-Malaya. than 

 between India and the Archipelago. Of such 

 well known families as the woodpeckers, 

 parrots, trogons, barbets, king fishers, pigeons 

 and pheasants, some identical species spread all 

 over India, and as far as Java and Borneo 

 and a very large proportion are common to 

 Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. In the 

 Eastern Islands of the Archipelago, which 

 Mr. Wallace designates the Austro-Malayan 

 Group, in which he includes New Guinea 

 1,400 miles long and 400 broad, and its adja- 

 cent islands, its land birds belong to 108 gene- 

 ra, of which 29 are exclusively characteristic of 

 it ; 35 belong to New Guinea, the Moluccas 

 and N. Australia. About one half of the New 

 Guinea genera are found also in Australia, and 

 about one-third in India and the Indo-Malay 

 Islands. In the birds of New Guinea are two 

 species of Eupetes, a Malayan genus ; two of 

 Alcippe, an Indian and Malay wren like form ; 

 an Arachnothera, quite resembling the spider 

 catching honey suckers of Malacc.n, two species 

 of Gracula, the Mainahs of India, and a lit'.le 

 black Prionochilus allied to the Malayan form. — 

 {Wallace, Vols. I. & II., pp. 143, 263, 264.) 



In 1832 a catalogue of birds, collected by 

 Colonel Sykes in the Bombay presidency, was 

 also published in the Proceedings of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society of London. In this are enumerated 

 226 species, of which above 40 are described for 

 the first time, many of them common and abund- 

 ant birds. This "^jijaliJia'tlif h yf^^'-^-'-^ 

 most valuable enifce^ipfijgf -thft'LuiOfcof'^Tcdf 

 published, and coAtains(j^g^^g|iQto{'Jviifh mai^ 

 highly interesting observations on th^gJiabitl 



PRES 



