CHAPTER XVIII. 
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 Recent 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 
