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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
fire-back pheasants, and the crested partridges (. Eollulus ). 
On the other hand, there are twelve Javan birds whose 
nearest allies (sometimes the identical species) occur in 
the Indo-Chinese countries or the Himalayas, while they 
are quite unknown in Sumatra and Borneo, the most 
popular example of which is the pea-fowl of Java, found 
also in Siam and Burmah, but not in the intervening 
islands. 1 
In reptiles, fresh-water fishes, and insects, Java is very 
rich, the forms agreeing generally with those prevalent in 
the other Malay islands, and in the Indo-Malay countries. 
The insects are especially fine, and among the beetles 
and butterflies are some of magnificent dimensions and 
gorgeous colours; but, as in the birds, many of them are 
quite peculiar to the island and unlike those of Sumatra 
and Borneo. 
Among the more remarkable large animals of Java are 
the rhinoceros, the tiger, the leopard, the wild dog, the 
wild ox, and two species of wild swine. Deer are abundant 
and of several species, but there are no antelopes or goats. 
Squirrels are very plentiful, and there are several species 
of monkeys. A singular animal, somewhat intermediate 
in appearance between a polecat and a badger, is the 
Mydaus, remarkable for its distribution on the higher 
mountains only. Dr. Horsfield states that it is confined 
exclusively to those mountains which have an elevation 
of more than 7000 feet above the sea, and that on these 
it occurs with the regularity of some plants, extending 
from one end of the island to the other on the numerous 
disconnected mountain summits. It emits an offensive 
stench like the skunk of America. Besides the peacock, 
1 For the details of these peculiarities and their probable causes, see 
The Geographical Distribution of Animals , by A. R. Wallace, vol, i. 
p. 349. 
