Family78.—MYRMECOBIIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
The only representative of this family is theMyrmecobius fasciatus, or native ant-eater, a small bushy-tailed squirrel-like animal, found in the South and West of Australia.
Family79.—PERAMELIDÆ. (3 Genera, 10 Species.)
The Peramelidæ, or bandicoots, are small insectivorous Marsupials, having something of the form of the kangaroos. They range over the whole of Australia and Tasmania, as well as the Papuan Islands. The genusPerameles(8 sp.), has the range of the family, one species being found in New Guinea and the Aru Islands (Plate XI., vol. i. p. 440);Peragalea(1 sp.), inhabits West Australia only; andChœropus(1 sp.), a beautiful little animal with something of the appearance of a mouse-deer, is found in both South, East, and West Australia.
Family80.—MACROPODIDÆ. (10 Genera, 56 Species.)
The well-known Kangaroos are the most largely developed family of Marsupials, and they appear to be the form best adapted for the present conditions of life in Australia, over every part of which they range. One genus of true terrestrial kangaroos (Dorcopsis), inhabits the Papuan Islands, as do also the curious tree kangaroos (Dendrolagus) which, without much apparent modification of form, are able to climb trees and feed upon the foliage. The genera, as established by Mr. Waterhouse, are as follows:Macropus(4 sp.), West, South, and East Australia, and Tasmania (Plate XII., vol. i. p. 441);Osphranter(5 sp.), all Australia;Halmaturus(18 sp.), all Australia and Tasmania;Petrogale(7 sp.), all Australia;Dendrolagus(2 sp.), New Guinea (Plate X., vol. i. p. 414);Dorcopsis(2 sp.) Aru and Mysol Islands, and New Guinea;Onychogalea(3 sp.), Central Australia;Lagorchestes(5 sp.), North, West, and South Australia;Bettongia(6 sp.), West, South, and East, Australia, and Tasmania;Hypsiprymnus(4 sp.), West and East Australia, and Tasmania.
Extinct Macropodidæ.—Many species of the generaMacropusandHypsiprymnushave been found in the cave-deposits and other Post-Tertiary strata of Australia. Among the extinct genera areProtemnodonandSthenurus, which are more allied to the tree-kangaroos of New Guinea than to living Australian species; the giganticDiprotodon, a kangaroo nearly as large as an elephant; andNototherium, of smaller size.
Family81.—PHALANGISTIDÆ. (8 Genera, 27 Species.)
The Phalangistidæ, or phalangers, are one of the most varied and interesting groups of Marsupials, being modified in a variety of ways for an arboreal life. We have the clumsy-looking tail-less koala, or native sloth; the prehensile-tailed opossum-like phalangers; the beautiful flying oppossums, so closely resemblingin form the flying squirrels of North America and India, but often no larger than a mouse; the beautiful dormouse-likeDromiciæ, one species of which is only 2¼ inches long or less than the harvest-mouse; and the littleTarsipes, a true honey-sucker with an extensile tongue, and of the size of a mouse. These extreme modifications and specializations within the range of a single family, are sufficient to indicate the great antiquity of the Australian fauna; and they render it almost certain that the region it occupied was once much more extensive, so as to supply the variety of conditions and the struggle between competing forms of life, which would be required to develop so many curiously modified forms, of which we now probably see only a remnant.
The Phalangistidæ not only range over all Australia and Tasmania, but over the whole of the Austro-Malayan sub-region from New Guinea to the Moluccas and Celebes. The distribution of the genera is as follows:—Phascolarctos(1 sp.), the koala, East Australia;Phalangista(5 sp.), East, South, and West Australia, and Tasmania;Cuscus(8 sp.), woolly phalangers, New Guinea, North Australia, Timor, Moluccas and Celebes;Petaurista(1 sp.) large flying phalanger, East Australia;Belideus(5 sp.), flying opossums, South, East, and North Australia, New Guiana and Moluccas;Acrobata(1 sp.), pigmy flying opossum, South and East Australia;Dromicia(5 sp.), dormouse-phalangers, West and East Australia, and Tasmania;Tarsipes(1 sp.), West Australia.
Thylacoleo, a large extinct marsupial of doubtful affinities, seems to be somewhat intermediate between this family and the kangaroos. Professor Owen considered it to be carnivorous, and able to prey upon the hugeDiprotodon, while Professor Flower and Mr. Gerard Krefft, believe that it was herbivorous.
Family82.—PHASCOLOMYIDÆ. (1 Genus, 3 Species.)
The Wombats are tail-less, terrestrial, burrowing animals, about the size of a badger, but feeding on roots and grass. They inhabit South Australia and Tasmania (Plate XI. vol. i. p. 439).
An extinct wombat, as large as a tapir, has been found in the Australian Pliocene deposits.
General Remarks on the Distribution of Marsupialia.
We have here the most remarkable case, of an extensive and highly varied order being confined to one very limited area on the earth's surface, the only exception being the opossums in America. It has been already shown that these are comparatively recent immigrants, which have survived in that country long after they disappeared in Europe. As, however, no other form but that of the Didelphyidæ occurs there during the Tertiary period, we must suppose that it was at a far more remote epoch that the ancestral forms of all the other Marsupials entered Australia; and the curious little mammals of the Oolite and Trias, offer valuable indications as to the time when this really took place.
A notice of these extinct marsupials of the secondary period will be found at vol. i. p. 159.
Order XIII.—MONOTREMATA.
Family83.—ORNITHORHYNCHIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
TheOrnithorhynchus, or duck-billed Platypus, one of the most remarkable and isolated of existing mammalia, is found in East and South Australia, and Tasmania.
Family84.—ECHIDNIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)
TheEchidna, or Australian Hedgehog, although quite as remarkable in internal structure as the Ornithorhynchus, is not so peculiar in external appearance, having very much the aspect of a hedgehog or spiny armadillo. The two species of this genus are very closely allied; one inhabits East and South Australia, the other Tasmania.
Extinct Echidnidæ.—Remains of a very large fossil species ofEchidnahave lately (1868) been discovered at Darling Downs in Australia.
Remark on the Distribution of the Monotremata.
This order is the lowest and most anomalous of the mammalia, and nothing resembling it has been found among the very numerous extinct animals discovered in any other part of the world than Australia.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FAMILIES AND GENERA OF BIRDS.
Order I.—PASSERES.
Family1.—TURDIDÆ. (21 Genera, 205 Species.)
The extensive and familiar group of Thrushes ranges over every region and sub-region, except New Zealand. It abounds most in the North Temperate regions, and has its least development in the Australian region. Thrushes are among the most perfectly organized of birds, and it is to this cause, perhaps, as well as to their omnivorous diet, that they have been enabled to establish themselves on a number of remote islands. Peculiar species of true thrush are found in Norfolk Island, and in the small Lord Howes' Island nearer Australia; the Island of St. Thomas in the Gulf of Guinea has a peculiar species; while the Mid-Atlantic island Tristan d'Acunha,—one of the most remote and isolated spots on the globe,—has a peculiarly modified form of thrush. Several of the smaller West Indian Islands have also peculiar species or genera of thrushes.
The family is of somewhat uncertain extent, blending insensibly with the warblers (Sylviidæ) as well as with the Indian bulbuls(Pycnonotidæ), while one genus, usually placed in it (Myiophonus) seems to agree better withEnicurusamong the Cinclidæ. The genera here admitted into the thrush family are the following, the numbers prefixed to some of the genera indicating their position in Gray'sHand List of the Genera and Species of Birds:—
(1143)Brachypteryx(8 sp.), Nepaul to Java and Ceylon (this may belong to the Timaliidæ);Turdus(100 sp.) has the range of the whole family, abounding in the Palæarctic, Oriental and Neotropical regions, while it is less plentiful in the Nearctic and Ethiopian, and very scarce in the Australian; (934)Oreocincla(11 sp.), Palæarctic and Oriental regions, Australia and Tasmania; (942)Rhodinocichla(1 sp.), Venezuela; (946)Melanoptila(1 sp.), Honduras; (947 948)Catharus(10 sp.) Mexico to Equador; (949 950)Margarops(4 sp.), Hayti and Porto Rico to St. Lucia; (951)Nesocichla(1 sp.), Tristan d'Acunha; (952)Geocichla(8 sp.), India to Formosa and Celebes, Timor and North Australia; (954 955)Monticola(8 sp.), Central Europe to South Africa and to China, Philippine Islands, Gilolo and Java; (956)Orocætes(3 sp.), Himalayas and N. China;Zoothera(3 sp.) Himalayas, Aracan, Java, and Lombok;Mimus(20 sp.) Canada to Patagonia, West Indies and Galapagos; (962)Oreoscoptes(1 sp.), Rocky Mountains and Mexico; (963)Melanotis(2 sp.), South Mexico and Guatemala; (964)Galeoscoptes(1 sp.), Canada and Eastern United States to Cuba and Panama; (965 966)Mimocichla(5 sp.), Greater Antilles; (967 968)Harporhynchus(7 sp.), North America, from the great lakes to Mexico;Cinclocerthia(3 sp.), Lesser Antilles; (970)Rhamphocinclus(1 sp.), Lesser Antilles;Chætops(3 sp.), South Africa;Cossypha=Bessonornis(15 sp.) Ethiopian region and Palestine.
Family2.—SYLVIIDÆ. (74 Genera, 640 Species.)
This immense family, comprising all the birds usually known as "warblers," is, as here constituted, of almost universal distribution. Yet it is so numerous and preponderant over the whole Eastern Hemisphere, that it may be well termed an Old-World group; only two undoubted genera with very few species belonging to the Nearctic region, while two or three others whose position is somewhat doubtful, are found in California and the Neotropical region.
Canon Tristram, who has paid great attention to this difficult group, has kindly communicated to me a MSS. arrangement of the genera and species, which, with a very few additions and alterations, I implicitly follow. He divides the Sylviidæ into seven sub-families, as follows:
1. Drymœcinæ (15 genera, 194 sp.), confined to the Old World and Australia, and especially abundant in the three Tropical regions. 2. Calamoherpinæ (11 genera, 75 sp.), has the same general distribution as the last, but is scarce in the Australian and abundant in the Palæarctic region; 3. Phylloscopinæ (11 genera, 139 sp.), has the same distribution as the entire family, but is most abundant in the Oriental and Palæarctic regions. 4. Sylviinæ (6 genera, 33 sp.), most abundant in the Palæarctic region, very scarce in the Australian and Oriental regions, absent from America. 5. Ruticillinæ (10 genera, 50 sp.); entirely absent from America and Australia; abounds in the Oriental and Palæarctic regions. 6. Saxicolinæ (12 genera, 126 sp.), absent from America (except the extreme north-west), abundant in the Oriental region and moderately so in the Palæarctic, Ethiopian, and Australian. 7. Accentorinæ (6 genera, 21 sp.), absent from the Ethiopian region and South America, most abundant in Australia, one small genus (Sialia), in North America.
The distribution of the several genera arranged under these sub-families, is as follows:
1.Drymœcinæ.—(736) Orthotomus (13 sp.), all the Oriental region; (737)Prinia(11 sp.), all the Oriental region; (738 740 742 746)Drymœca(83 sp.), Ethiopian and Oriental regions, most abundant in the former; (743 to 745 and 749 to 752)Cisticola(32 sp.), Ethiopian and Oriental regions, with South Europe, Chinaand Australia; (741)Suya(5 sp.), Nepal to South China and Formosa; (773)Sphenæacus(7 sp.), Australia, New Zealand, and Chatham Island, with one species (?) in South Africa; (770 772)Megalurus(4 sp.), Central India to Java and Timor; (774 775)Poodytes(2 sp.), Australia; (766)Amytis(3 sp.), Australia; (768)Sphenura(4 sp.), Australia; (764)Malurus(16 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; (762 763)Chthonicola(3 sp.), Australia; (761)Calamanthus(2 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; (759)Camaroptera(5 sp.), Africa and Fernando Po; (753)Apalis(1 sp.), South Africa.
2.Calamoherpinæ.—(777 to 781 and sp. 2968)Acrocephalus(35 sp.), Palæarctic, Ethiopian, continental part of Oriental region, Moluccas, Caroline Islands, and Australia; (782 818)Dumeticola(4 sp.), Nepal to East Thibet, Central Asia, high regions; (783 790)Potamodus(3 sp.), Central and South Europe, and East Thibet; (789 and sp. 2969)Lusciniola(1 sp.), South Europe; (791 792)Locustella(8 sp.), Palæarctic region to Central India and China; (739)Horites(5 sp.), Nepal to North-west China and Formosa; (784—786)Bradyptetus=Cettia(10 sp.), South Europe, Palestine, and South Africa; (747 748)Catriscus(3 sp.), Tropical and South Africa;Bernieria(2 sp.), and (756)Ellisia(3 sp.), Madagascar; (832 a)Mystacornis(1 sp.), Madagascar; (787)Calamodus(2 sp.), Europe and Palestine; (734)Tatare(2 sp.) Samoa to Marquesas Islands.
3.Phylloscopinæ.[5]—Phylloscopus(18 sp.), all Palæarctic and Oriental regions to Batchian; (757 758 820)Eremomela(16 sp.), Tropical and South Africa; (754)Eroessa(1 sp.), Madagascar;[5]Hypolais(12 sp.), Palæarctic region, all India, Timor, North and South Africa; (815 816 819)Abrornis(26 sp.), Oriental region; (814)Reguloides(4 sp.), Palæarctic and continental Oriental regions; (822)Sericornis(7 sp.), Australia and Tasmania (823 824 1451)Acanthiza(14 sp.), Australia and New Caledonia; (821)Regulus(7 sp.), all Palæarctic and Nearctic regions and south to Guatemala; (890)Polioptila(13 sp,); Paraguay to New Mexico; (825)Gerygone(22 sp.), Australia, Papuan and Timor groups, New Zealand and Norfolk Island.
4.Sylviinæ.—(793)Aedon(9 sp.), Spain and Palestine, to East and South Africa; (858)Drymodes(2 sp.), Australia; (800)Pyrophthalma(2 sp.), South Europe and Palestine; (801)Melizophilus(3 sp.), South-west Europe and North-east Africa; (802 804)Sylvia=Alsecus(8 sp.), Palæarctic region to India and Ceylon, and North-east Africa; (806 809)Curruca(7 sp.), Central and South Europe, Madeira, Palestine, Central India, North-east Africa, and South Africa.
5.Ruticillinæ.—(827)Luscinia(2 sp.), West Asia, Europe, North Africa; (839)Cyanecula(3 sp.), Europe, North-east Africa, India, Ceylon, and China; (840)Calliope(2 sp.), North Asia, Himalayas, Central India, and China; (838)Erithacus(3 sp.), Europe, North-east Africa, Japan, and North China; (828 830 837)Ruticilla(20 sp.), Palæarctic and Oriental regions to Senegal and Abyssinia, and east to Timor; abounds in Himalayas; (829)Chæmarrhornis(1 sp.), Himalayas; (831 832 834)Larvivora(10 sp.), Oriental region and Japan; (833)Notodela(3 sp.), Himalayas, Pegu, Formosa, Java; (835)Tarsiger(2 sp.), Nepal; (841)Grandala(1 sp.), High Himalayas of Nepal.
6.Saxicolinæ.—(975)Copsychus(7 sp.), all Oriental region and Madagascar; (976)Kittacincla(5 sp.), Oriental region toCeylon, Andaman Islands, Formosa, and Borneo; (794—799)Thamnobia(10 sp.), Ethiopian region and India to foot of Himalayas; (977)Gervasia(2 sp.), Madagascar and Seychelle Islands; (845 847)Dromolæa(18 sp.), Africa to South Europe, Palestine, North-west India, and North China; (842 843 846)Saxicola(36 sp.), Africa, North-west India, whole Palæarctic region, migrating to Alaska and Greenland; (848 849)Oreicola(5 sp.), Timor, Lombok, and Burmah; (844)Cercomela(6 sp.), North-east Africa to North-west India; (850)Pratincola(15 sp.), Europe, Ethiopian, and Oriental regions to Celebes and Timor; (917)Ephthianura(3 sp.), Australia; (851—856)Petrœca(17 sp.), Australian region, Papua to New Zealand, Chatham and Auckland Islands, and Samoa; (857)Miro(2 sp.), New Zealand (doubtfully placed here).
7.Accentorinæ.—(771)Cinclorhamphus(2 sp.), Australia; (860)Origma(1 sp.), East Australia; (859)Sialia(8 sp.), United States to Guatemala; (861)Accentor(12 sp.), Palæarctic region to Himalayas and North-west China; (703)Orthonyx(4 sp.), East Australia and New Zealand (doubtfully placed here).
The following two genera, which have been usually classed as Ampelidæ, are arranged by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin in the Sylviidæ:—
(1362)Myiadestes(8 sp.), Peru and Bolivia, along the Andes to Mexico and California, also the Antilles; (1364)Cichlopsis(1 sp.), Brazil.
Family3.—TIMALIIDÆ. (35 Genera, 240 Species.)
The Timaliidæ, or babbling thrushes, are a group of small strong-legged active birds, mostly of dull colours, which are especially characteristic of the Oriental region, in every part of which they abound, while they are much less plentiful inAustralia and Africa. The Indo-Chinese sub-region is the head quarters of the family, whence it diminishes rapidly in all directions in variety of both generic and specific forms. Viscount Walden has kindly assisted me in the determination of the limits of this family, as to which there is still much difference of opinion. The distribution of the genera here admitted is as follows; and as the genera are widely scattered in theHand List, reference numbers are prefixed in every case.
(1023—1026 1008)Pomatorhinus(27 sp.), the whole Oriental region (excluding Philippines), Australia and New Guinea; (1027)Pterohinus(3 sp.), North China, East Thibet; (1029 1030)Malacocircus(9 sp.), Continental India and Ceylon, Arabia, Nubia; (1031)Chatarrhæa(5 sp.), Abyssinia, Palestine, India, Nepal, Burmah, and Philippines; (1032)Layardia(3 sp.), India and Ceylon; (1033)Acanthoptila(1 sp.), Nepal; (1034)Cinclosoma(4 sp.), Australia and Tasmania; (1035 1036)Crateropus(18 sp.), all Africa, Persia; (1037)Hypergerus(1 sp.), West Africa; (1038)Cichladusa(3 sp.), Tropical Africa; (1039)Garrulax(23 sp.), the Oriental region (excluding Philippines); (1040)Janthocincla(10 sp.), Nepal, to East Thibet, Sumatra, Formosa; (1041 1042)Gampsorhynchus(2 sp.), Himalayas; (1049)Grammatoptila(1 sp.), North India; (1043—1045)Trochalopteron(24 sp.), all India to China and Formosa; (1046)Actinodura(4 sp.), Nepal to Burmah, 3,000-10,000 feet; (1047)Pellorneum(4 sp.), Nepal to Ceylon, Tenasserim; (1158 1159)Timalia(12 sp.), Malaya;[6](1160)Dumetia(2 sp.), Central India and Ceylon; (1162)Stachyris(6 sp.), Nepal to Assam, Sumatra, Formosa; (1164)Pyctorhis(3 sp.), India to Ceylon and Burmah; (1165)Mixornis(8 sp.), Himalayas and Malaya; (1167)Malacopteron(3 sp.), Malaya; (1168 1169)Alcippe(15 sp.), Ceylon and South India, Himalayas to Aracan, Malaya, Formosa, New Guinea; (1170)Macronus(2 sp.), Malaya; (1171)Cacopitta(5 sp.), Malaya; (1172)Trichastoma(11 sp.), Nepal, Burmah, Malaya, Celebes; (1173)Napothera(6 sp.), Malaya; (1174)Drymocataphus(8 sp.), Burmah, Malaya, Ceylon,Timor; (1175)Turdinus(5 sp.), Khasia Hills, Malacca, Tenasserim; (1176)Trichixos(1 sp.), Borneo, Malacca; (1004)Sibia(6 sp.), Nepal to Assam, Tenasserim, Formosa; (1177 1178)Alethe(4 sp.), West Africa; (1178 a)Oxylabes(1 sp.), Madagascar; (1050)Psophodes(2 sp.), South, East, and West Australia; (1048)Turnagra(3 sp.), New Zealand.
Family4.—PANURIDÆ. (4 Genera, 13 Species).
This new family is adopted, at the suggestion of Professor Newton, to include some peculiar groups of Himalayan birds whose position has usually been among the Timaliidæ or the Paridæ, but which are now found to be allied to our Bearded Reedling. The supposed affinity of this bird for the Tits has been long known to be erroneous, and the family Panuridæ was formed for its reception (Yarrell'sBritish Birds, 4th edit. p. 512). The genera having hitherto been widely scattered in systematic works, are referred to by the numbers of Mr. G. E. Gray'sHand List.
(1901)Paradoxornis(3 sp.), Himalayas and East Thibet; (1904)Conostoma(1 sp.), Himalayas and East Thibet; (876)Suthora(8 sp.), Himalayas to North-west China, Formosa; (877)Chlenasicus(1 sp.), Darjeeling; (887)Panurus(1 sp.), Central and Southern Europe; (1902)Heteromorpha(1 sp.), Nepal, 10,000 feet altitude;Cholornis(1 sp.), Moupin in East Thibet.
Family5.—CINCLIDÆ. (4 Genera, 27 Species.)
The Cinclidæ consist of a number of more or less thrush-like ground-birds, of which the most remarkable are the Dippers, forming the genusCinclus. These are curiously distributed, from the Palæarctic region as a centre, to the alpine districts of North and South America; while the three genera which are here included as somewhat allied toCinclus, all inhabit the Oriental region. The genera which I class in this family are the following:—
(978)Cinclus(9 sp.), Palæarctic region to West China and Formosa, Rocky Mountains, and Mexico in North America, and southward to the Andes of Peru; (916)Enicurus(9 sp.), Himalayas to Java and West China; (979)Eupetes(4 sp.), Indo-Malay sub-region and New Guinea; (971)Myiophonus(5 sp.), Himalayas to Ceylon, Java, South China, and Formosa.
(981)Mesites(1 sp.), Madagascar, is an anomalous bird placed withEupetesby Mr. G. R. Gray, but of very uncertain affinities.
Family6.—TROGLODYTIDÆ. (17 Genera, 94 Species.)
The Troglodytidæ, or Wrens, are small birds, rather abundant and varied in the Neotropical region, with a few species scattered through the Nearctic, Palæarctic, and parts of the Oriental regions, and one doubtful genus in Africa. The constitution of the family is by no means well determined. The South American genera are taken from Messrs. Sclater and Salvin'sNomenclator Avium Neotropicalium.
Tesia(2 sp.), Eastern Himalayas;Pnoepyga(6 sp.), Himalayas to East Thibet, Java; (716 and 723)Troglodytes(15 sp.), Neotropical, Nearctic, and Palæarctic regions to the Higher Himalayas; (697)Rimator(1 sp.), Darjeeling;Thryothorus(13 sp.), South Brazil to Mexico, Martinique, and Nearctic region;Thryophilus(13 sp.), Brazil to Mexico, and North-west America;Cistothorus(5 sp.), Patagonia to Greenland;Uropsila(1 sp.), Mexico;Donacobius(2 sp.), Tropical America;Campylorhynchus(18 sp.), Brazil, and Bolivia to Mexico and the Gila valley;Cyphorhinus(5 sp.), Equatorial South America to Costa Rica;Microcerculus(5 sp.), Brazil and Peru to Mexico;Henicorhina(2 sp.), Peru and Guiana to Costa Rica;Salpinctes(1 sp.), High Plains of Rocky Mountains;Catherpes(1 sp.), Mexico and Rio Grande;Cinnicerthia(2 sp.), Ecuador and Columbia. (760)Sylvietta(2 sp.), Tropical and South Africa,—is placed in this family by Mr. Tristram.
Family7.—CHAMÆIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species).
The bird which forms the genusChamæainhabits California; and though allied to the wrens it has certain peculiarities of structure which, in the opinion of many ornithologists, require that it should be placed in a distinct family.
Family8.—CERTHIIDÆ. (6 Genera, 18 Species.)
The Certhiidæ, or Creepers, form a small family whose species are thinly scattered over North America from Mexico, the Palæarctic region, parts of the Oriental region, and Australia, where they are somewhat more abundant. The distribution of the genera is as follows:
Certhia(6 sp.), Nearctic and Palæarctic regions, Nepal, and Sikhim;Salpornis(1 sp.), Central India;Tichodroma, (1 sp.), SouthEurope to Abyssinia, Nepal, and North China;Rhabdornis(1 sp.), Philippine Islands;Climacteris(8 sp.), Australia and New Guinea.
Family9.—SITTIDÆ. (6 Genera, 31 Species.)
The Sittidæ, or Nuthatches, are another small family of tree-creeping birds, whose distribution is very similar to that of the Certhiidæ, but with a more uniform range over the Oriental region, and extending to New Zealand and Madagascar. The genera are as follows:—
Sitta(17 sp.), Palæarctic and Nearctic regions to South India and Mexico;Dendrophila(2 sp.), Ceylon and India to Burmah and Malaya;Hypherpes(1 sp.), Madagascar;Sittella(6 sp.), Australia and New Guinea.Acanthisitta(1 sp.) andXenicus(4 sp.), New Zealand, are placed with some doubt in this family.
Family10.—PARIDÆ. (14 Genera, 92 Species.)
The Paridæ, or Tits, are very abundant in the Nearctic and Palæarctic regions; many fine species are found in the Himalayas, but they are sparingly scattered through the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian regions. The genera usually admitted into this family are the following, but the position of some of them, especially of the Australian forms, is doubtful.
(864—867 870)Parus(46 sp.), North America, from Mexico, Palæarctic, and Oriental regions, Tropical and South Africa;(868 869)Lophophanes(10 sp.), Europe, the Higher Himalayas to Sikhim, North America to Mexico;Acredula=Orites(6 sp.), Palæarctic region;Melanochlora(2 sp.), Nepal to Sumatra;Psaltria(1 sp.), Java;Psaltriparus(3 sp.), Guatemala to California, and Rocky Mountains;Auriparus(1 sp.), Rio Grande; (881 882)Parisoma(5 sp.), Tropical and South Africa; (883 884)Ægithalus(6 sp.), South-east Europe to South Africa; (885 889)Ægithaliscus(6 sp.), Afghanistan and Himalayas to Amoy;Cephalopyrus(1 sp.), North-west Himalayas;Sylviparus(1 sp.), Himalayas and Central India;Certhiparus(2 sp.), New Zealand; (879 880)Sphenostoma(2 sp.), East and South Australia.
Family11.—LIOTRICHIDÆ. (11 Genera, 35 Species.)
The Liotrichidæ, or Hill-Tits, are small, active, delicately-coloured birds, almost confined to the Himalayas and their extension eastward to China. They are now generally admitted to form a distinct family. The genera are distributed as follows:
(1146)Liothrix(3 sp.), Himalayas to China;Siva(3 sp.), Himalayas;Minla(4 sp.), Himalayas and East Thibet;Proparus(7 sp.), Nepal to East Thibet and Aracan; (1153)Pteruthius(6 sp.), Himalayas to Java and West China; (1155)Cutia(2 sp.), Nepal; (1019)Yuhina(3 sp.), High Himalayas and Moupin; (1020)Ixulus(3 sp.), Himalayas to Tenasserim; (1021)Myzornis(1 sp.), Darjeeling.
Family12.—PHYLLORNITHIDÆ. (3 Genera, 14 Species.)