CHAP. XII.] 
THE ORIENTAL REGION. 
330 
(Columbidse), and the pheasants (PhasianicUe), which are fairly- 
represented by such fine genera as Treron, Ptilnpus, Euplocamus, 
and Argusianus. A few forms whose affinities are Australian 
rather than Oriental, help to give a character to the ornithology, 
though none of them are numerous. The swallow-shrikes 
(Arkcmus) ; the wag- tail fly-eatchers ( Bhipidura ); the green fruit- 
doves ( Ptilopus ) ; and the mound-makers (Megapod ius), are the 
chief of these. 
There are a few curious examples of remote geographical 
alliances that may be noted. First, we have a direct African 
connection in Machcerhamphus , a genus of hawks, and Berenicornis, 
a genus of hornbills ; the only close allies being, in the former 
case in South, and in the latter in West Africa. Then we have 
a curious Neotropical affinity, indicated by Carpococcyx, a large 
Bornean ground-cuckoo, wlicsi nearest ally is the genus Neo- 
moipJms of South America; and by the lovely green-coloured 
Calyptomena which seems unmistakably allied to the orange- 
coloured Bupinola, or “ Cock of the rock/’ in general structure 
and in the remarkable form of crest, a resemblance which has 
been noticed by many writers. 
In the preceding enumeration of Malayan genera several 
are included which extend into the Austro-Malay Islands, our 
object, at present, being to show the differences and relations of 
the two chief Oriental sub-regions. 
Plate IX. A Malayan Forest with some of its peculiar Birds . — 
Our second illustration of the Malayan fauna is devoted to its 
bird-life ; and for this purpose we place our scene in the Malay 
peninsula, where birds are perhaps more abundant and more 
interesting, than in any other part of the sub-region. Con- 
spicuous in the foreground is the huge Bhinoceros Ilornbili 
(Buceros rhinoceros), one of the most characteristic birds of the 
Malayan forests, the flapping of whose wings, as it violently 
beats the air to support its heavy body, may be heard a mile 
off. On the ground behind, is the Argus pheasant (Argus- 
ianus giganteus) whose beautifully ocellated wings have been 
the subject of a most interesting description in Mr. Darwin’s 
Descent of Man. The wing-feathers are here so enormously 
z 2 
