Family82.—NESTORIDÆ. (? 2 Genera, 6 Species.)
The present family is formed to receive the genusNestor(5 sp.), confined to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. Its affinities are doubtful, but it appears to have relations with the American Conuridæ and the Australian Trichoglossidæ. With it is placed the rare and remarkableDasyptilus(1 sp.), of New Guinea, of which however very little is known.
Family83.—STRINGOPIDÆ. (1 Genus, 2 Species.)
This family contains only the curious owl-like nocturnal Parrot of New Zealand,Stringops habroptilus(Plate XIII. Vol. I. p. 455). An allied species is said to inhabit the Chatham Islands, if not now extinct.
General Remarks on the Distribution of the Psittaci.
Although the Parrots are now generally divided into several distinct families, yet they form so well marked and natural a group, and are so widely separated from all other birds, that we may best discuss their peculiarities of geographical distribution by treating them as a whole. By the preceding enumeration we find that there are about 386 species of known parrots, which are divided into 52 genera. They are pre-eminently a tropical group, for although a few species extend a considerable distance into the temperate zone, these aremarked exceptions to the rule which limits the parrot tribe to the tropical and sub-tropical regions, roughly defined as extending about 30° on each side of the equator. In America a species ofConurusreaches the straits of Magellan on the south, while another inhabits the United States, and once extended to the great lakes, although now confined to the south-eastern districts. In Africa parrots do not reach the northern tropic, owing to the desert nature of the country; and in the south they barely reach the Orange River. In India they extend to about 35° N. in the western Himalayas; and in the Australian region, not only to New Zealand but to Macquarie Islands in 54° S., the farthest point from the equator reached by the group. But although found in all the tropical regions they are most unequally distributed. Africa is poorest, possessing only 6 genera and 25 species; the Oriental region is also very poor, having but 6 genera and 29 species; the Neotropical region is much richer, having 14 genera and 141 species; while the smallest in area and the least tropical in climate—the Australian region, possesses 31 genera and 176 species, and it also possesses exclusively 5 of the families, Trichoglossidæ, Platycercidæ, Cacatuidæ, Nestoridæ, and Stringopidæ. The portion of the earth's surface that contains the largest number of parrots in proportion to its area is, undoubtedly, the Austro-Malayan sub-region, including the islands from Celebes to the Solomon Islands. The area of these islands is probably not one-fifteenth of that of the four tropical regions, yet they contain from one-fifth to one-fourth of all the known parrots. In this area too are found many of the most remarkable forms,—all the crimson lories, the great black Cockatoos, the pigmyNasiterna, the raquet-tailedPrioniturus, and the bareheadedDasyptilus.
The almost universal distribution of Parrots wherever the climate is sufficiently mild or uniform to furnish them with a perennial supply of food, no less than their varied details of organization, combined with a great uniformity of general type,—tell us, in unmistakable language, of a very remote antiquity. The only early record of extinct parrots is, however, in the Miocene of France, where remains apparently allied to the WestAfricanPsittacus, have been found. But the origin of so widespread, isolated, and varied a group, must be far earlier than this, and not improbably dates back beyond the dawn of the Tertiary period. Some primeval forms may have entered the Australian region with the Marsupials, or not long after them; while perhaps at a somewhat later epoch they were introduced into South America. In these two regions they have greatly flourished, while in the two other tropical regions only a few types have been found, capable of maintaining themselves, among the higher forms of mammalia, and in competition with a more varied series of birds. This seems much more probable than the supposition that so highly organized a group should have originated in the Australian region, and subsequently become so widely spread over the globe.
Order IV.—COLUMBÆ.
Family84.—COLUMBIDÆ. (44 Genera, 355 Species.)
The Columbidæ, or Pigeons and Doves, are almost universally distributed, but very unequally in the different regions. Being best adapted to live in warm or temperate climates, they diminish rapidly northwards, reaching about 62° N. Latitude in North America, but considerably farther in Europe. Both the Nearctic and Palæarctic regions are very poor in genera and species of pigeons, those of the former region being mostly allied to Neotropical, and those of the latter to Oriental and Ethiopian types. The Ethiopian region is, however, itself very poor, and several of its peculiar forms are confined to the Madagascar sub-region. The Neotropical region is very rich in peculiar genera, though but moderately so in number of species. The Orientalregion closely approaches it in both respects; but the Australian region is by far the richest, possessing nearly double the genera and species of any other region, and abounding in remarkable forms quite unlike those of any other part of the globe. The following table gives the number of genera and species in each region, and enables us readily to determine the comparative richness and isolation of each, as regards this extensive family:—
With the exception ofColumbaandTurtur, which have a wide range,Treron, common to the Oriental and Ethiopian regions, andCarpophaga, to the Oriental and Australian, most of the genera of pigeons are either restricted to or very characteristic of a single region.
The distribution of the genera here admitted is as follows:—
Treron(37 sp.), the whole Oriental region, and eastward to Celebes, Amboyna and Flores, also the whole Ethiopian region to Madagascar;Ptilopus(52 sp.), the Australian region (excluding New Zealand) and the Indo-Malay sub-region;Alectrœnas(4 sp.), Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands;Carpophaga(50 sp.), the whole Australian and Oriental regions, but much the most abundant in the former; (2274)Ianthœnas(11 sp.), Japan, Andaman, Nicobar, and Philippine Islands, Timor and Gilolo to Samoa Islands; (2278)Leucomelæna(1 sp.), Australia;Lopholaimus(1 sp.), Australia; (2279 and 2283)Alsæcomus(2 sp.), Himalayas to Ceylon and Tenasserim;Columba(46 sp.), generally distributed over all the regions except the Australian, one species however in the Fiji Islands;Ectopistes(1 sp.), east of North America with British Columbia;Zenaidura(2 sp.), Veragua to Canada and British Columbia;Œna(1 sp.), Tropical and South Africa;Geopelia(6 sp.), Philippine Islands and Java to Australia;Macropygia(14 sp.), Nepal, Hainan, Nicobar, Java,and Philippines to Australia and New Ireland;Turacœna(3 sp.), Celebes, Timor, and Solomon Islands;Reinwardtœnas(1 sp.), Celebes to New Guinea;Turtur(24 sp.), Palæarctic, Ethiopian and Oriental regions with Austro-Malaya;Chæmepelia(7 sp.), Brazil and Bolivia to Jamaica, California, and South-east United States;Columbula(2 sp.), Brazil and La Plata to Chili;Scardafella(2 sp.), Brazil and Guatemala;Zenaida(10 sp.), Chili and La Plata to Columbia and the Antilles, Fernando Noronha;Melopelia(2 sp.), Chili to Mexico and California;Peristera(4 sp.), Brazil to Mexico;Metriopelia(2 sp.), West America from Ecuador to Chili;Gymnopelia(1 sp.), West Peru and Bolivia;Leptoptila(11 sp.), Paraguay to Mexico and the Antilles; (2317 2318 and 2820)Geotrygon(14 sp.), Paraguay to Mexico and the Antilles;Aplopelia(5 sp.), Tropical and South Africa, St. Thomas and Princes Island;Chalocopelia(4 sp.), Tropical and South Africa;Starnœnas(1 sp.), Cuba; Ocyphaps (1 sp.), Australia (Plate XII. Vol. I. p. 441);Petrophassa(1 sp.), North-west Australia;Chalocophaps(8 sp.), the Oriental region to New Guinea and Australia;Trugon(1 sp.), New Guinea;Henicophaps(1 sp.), Waigiou and New Guinea;Phaps(3 sp.), Australia and Tasmania;Leucosarcia(1 sp.), East Australia;Phapitreron(2 sp.), Philippine Islands;Geophaps(2 sp.), North and East Australia;Lophophaps(3 sp.), Australia;Calœnas(1 sp.), scattered on the smaller islands from the Nicobars and Philippines to New Guinea;Otidiphaps(1 sp.), New Guinea;Phlogœnas(7 sp.), Philippine Islands and Celebes to the Marquesas Islands;Goura(2 sp.), New Guinea and the islands on the north-east (Plate X. Vol. I. p. 414).
Family84a.—DIDUNCULIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
TheDidunculus stigirostris, a hook-billed ground-pigeon, found only in the Samoa Islands, is so peculiar in its structure that it is considered to form a distinct family.
Family85.—DIDIDÆ.—(2 Genera, 3 Species.)
The birds which constitute this family are now all extinct; but as numerous drawings are in existence, taken from living birds some of which were exhibited in Europe, and a stuffed specimen, fragments of which still remain, was in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford down to 1755, they must be classed among recent, as opposed to geologically extinct species. The Dodo (Didus ineptus) a large, unwieldy, flightless bird, inhabited Mauritius down to the latter part of the 17th century; and an allied form, the Solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria), was found only in the island of Rodriguez, where it survived about a century later. Old voyagers mention a Dodo also in Bourbon, and a rude figure of it exists; but no remains of this bird have been found. Almost complete skeletons of the Dodo and Solitaire have, however, been recovered from the swamps of Mauritius and the caves of Rodriguez, proving that they were both extremely modified forms of pigeon. These large birds were formerly very abundant, and being excellent eating and readily captured, the early voyagers to these islands used them largely for food. As they could be caught by man, and very easily by dogs, they were soon greatly diminished in numbers; and the introduction of swine, which ran wild in the forests and fed on the eggs and young birds, completed their extermination.
The existence in the Mascarene Islands of a group of such remarkable terrestrial birds, with aborted wings, is parallel to that of theApteryxandDinornisin New Zealand, the Cassowaries of Austro-Malaya, and the short-winged Rails of NewZealand, Tristan d'Acunha, and other oceanic islands; and the phenomenon is clearly dependent on the long-continued absence of enemies, which allowed of great increase of bulk and the total loss of the power of flight, without injury. In some few cases (the Ostrich for example) birds incapable of flight co-exist with large carnivorous mammalia; but these birds are large and powerful, as well as very swift, and are thus able to escape from some enemies and defend themselves against others. The entire absence of the smaller and more defenceless ground-birds from the adjacent island of Madagascar, is quite in accordance with this view, because that island has several small but destructive carnivorous animals.
General Remarks on the Distribution of the Columbæ.
The striking preponderance of Pigeons, both as to genera and species, in the Australian region, would seem to indicate that at some former period it possessed a more extensive land area in which this form of bird-life took its rise. But there are other considerations which throw doubt upon this view. The western half of the Malay Archipelago, belonging to the Oriental region, is also rich in pigeons, since it has 43 species belonging to 11 genera, rather more than are found in all the rest of the Oriental region. Again, we find that the Mascarene Islands and the Antilles both possess more pigeons than we should expect, in proportion to those of the regions to which they belong, and to their total amount of bird-life. This looks as if islands were more favourable to pigeon-development than continents; and if we group together the Pacific and the Malayan Islands, the Mascarene group and the Antilles, we find that they contain together about 170 species of pigeons belonging to 24 out of the 47 genera here adopted; while all the great continents united only produce about the same number of species belonging (if we omit those peculiar to Australia) to only 20 genera. The great development of the group in the Australian region may, therefore, be due to its consisting mainly of islands, and not to the order having originated there, and thus having had a longer period in which to develop. I have elsewhere suggested (Ibis1865, p. 366)a physical cause for this peculiarity of distribution. Pigeons build rude, open nests, and their young remain helpless for a considerable period. They are thus exposed to the attacks of such arboreal quadrupeds or other animals as feed on eggs or young birds. Monkeys are very destructive in this respect; and it is a noteworthy fact that over the whole Australian region, the Mascarene Islands and the Antilles, monkeys are unknown. In the Indo-Malay sub-region, where monkeys are generally plentiful, the greatest variety of pigeons occurs in the Philippines, where there is but a single species in one island; and in Java, where monkeys are far less numerous than in Sumatra or Borneo. If we add to this consideration the fact, that mammalia and rapacious birds are, as a rule, far less abundant in islands than on continents; and that the extreme development of pigeon-life is reached in the Papuan group of islands, in which mammalia (except a few marsupials, bats, and pigs) are wholly absent, we see further reason to adopt this view. It is also to be noted that in America, comparatively few pigeons are found in the rich forests (comparable to those of the Australian insular region in which they abound), but are mostly confined to the open campos, the high Andes, and the western coast districts, from which the monkey-tribe are wholly absent.
This view is further supported by the great development of colour that is found in the pigeons of these insular regions, culminating in the golden-yellow fruit-dove of the Fiji Islands, the metallic green Nicobar-pigeon of Malaya, and the black and crimsonAlectrœnasof Mauritius. Here also, alone, we meet with crested pigeons, rendering the possessors more conspicuous; such as theLopholaimusof Australia and the crownedGouraof New Guinea; and here too are more peculiar forms of terrestrial pigeons than elsewhere, though none have completely lost the power of flight but the now extinct Dididæ.
The curious liking of pigeons for an insular habitat is well shown in the generaIanthœnasandCalœnas. The former, containing 11 species, ranges over a hundred degrees of longitude, and forty-five of latitude, extending into three regions, yet nowhere inhabits a continent or even a large island. It isfound in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; in the Philippines, Gilolo, and the smaller Papuan Islands, and in Japan; yet not in any of the large Malay Islands or in Australia. The other genus,Calœnas, consists of but a single species, yet this ranges from the Nicobar Islands to New Guinea. It is not, however, as far as known, found on any of the large islands, but seems to prefer the smaller islands which surround them. We here have the general preference of pigeons for islands, further developed in these two genera into a preference for small islands; and it is probable that the same cause—the greater freedom from danger—has produced both phenomena.
Of the geological antiquity of the Columbæ we have no evidence; but their wide distribution, their varied forms, and their great isolation, all point to an origin, at least as far back as that we have assigned as probable in the case of the Parrots.
Order V.—GALLINÆ.
Family86.—PTEROCLIDÆ. (2 Genera, 16 Species.)
The Pteroclidæ, or Sand-grouse, are elegantly formed birds with pointed tails, and plumage of beautifully varied protective tints, characteristic of the Ethiopian region and Central Asia, though extending into Southern Europe and Hindostan. Being pre-eminently desert-birds, they avoid the forest-districts of all these countries, but abound in the most arid situations and on the most open and barren plains. The distribution of the genera is as follows:—
Pterocles(14 sp.), has the same range as the family;Syrrhaptes(2 sp.), normally inhabits Tartary, Thibet, and Mongolia to the country around Pekin, and occasionally visits Eastern Europe. But a few years back (1863) great numbers suddenly appeared inEurope and extended westward to the shores of the Atlantic, while some even reached Ireland and the Færoes. (Plate III. Vol. I. p. 226.)
Family87.—TETRAONIDÆ. (29 Genera, 170 Species.)
The Tetraonidæ, including the Grouse, Partridges, Quails, and allied forms, abound in all parts of the Eastern continents; they are less plentiful in North America and comparatively scarce in South America, more than half the Neotropical species being found north of Panama; and in the Australian region there are only a few of small size. The Ethiopian region probably contains most species; next comes the Oriental—India proper from the Himalayas to Ceylon having twenty; while the Australian region, with 15 species, is the poorest. These facts render it probable that the Tetraonidæ are essentially denizens of the great northern continents, and that their entrance into South America, Australia, and even South Africa, is, comparatively speaking, recent. They have developed into forms equally suited to the tropical plains and the arctic regions, some of them being among the few denizens of the extreme north, as well as of the highest alpine snows. The genera are somewhat unsettled, and there is even some uncertainty as to the limits between this family and the next; but the following are those now generally admitted:—
Ptilopachus(1 sp.), West Africa;Francolinus(34 sp.), all Africa, South Europe, India to Ceylon, and South China;Ortygornis(3 sp.), Himalayas to Ceylon, Sumatra, and Borneo;Peliperdix(1 sp.), West Africa;Perdix(3 sp.), the whole Continental Palæarctic region;Margaroperdix(1 sp.), Madagascar;Oreoperdix(1 sp.), Formosa;Arborophila(8 sp.), the Oriental Continent and the Philippines;Peloperdix(4 sp.), Tenasserim and Malaya;Coturnix(21 sp.), Temperate Palæarctic, Ethiopian andOriental regions, and the Australian to New Zealand;Rollulus(2 sp.), Siam to Sumatra, Borneo, and Philippines;Caloperdix(1 sp.), Malacca and Sumatra;Odontophorus(17 sp.), Brazil and Peru to Mexico;Dendrortyx(3 sp.), Guatemala and Mexico;Cyrtonyx(3 sp.), Guatemala to New Mexico;Ortyx(8 sp.), Honduras and Cuba to Canada;Eupsychortyx(6 sp.), Brazil and Ecuador to Mexico;Callipepla(3 sp.), Mexico to California;Lophortyx(2 sp.), Arizona and California;Oreortyx(1 sp.), California and Oregon (Plate XVIII., Vol. II. p.128);Lerwa(1 sp.), Snowy Himalayas and East Thibet;Caccabis(10 sp.), Palæarctic region to Abyssinia, Arabia and the Punjaub;Tetraogallus(4 sp.), Caucasus and Himalayas to Altai Mountains;Tetrao(7 sp.), northern parts of Palæarctic and Nearctic regions;Centrocercus(1 sp.), Rocky Mountains;Pediocætes(2 sp.), North and North-west America (Plate XVIII. Vol. II. p.128);Cupidonia(1 sp.), East and North-Central United States and Canada;Bonasa(3 sp.), north of Nearctic and Palæarctic regions;Lagopus(6 sp.), Arctic Zone and northern parts of Nearctic and Palæarctic regions.
Family88.—PHASIANIDÆ. (18 Genera, 75 Species.)
The Phasianidæ, including the Pea-fowl, Pheasants, and Jungle-fowl, the Turkeys, and the Guinea-fowl, are very widely distributed, but are far more abundant than elsewhere in the Eastern parts of Asia, both tropical and temperate. Leaving out the African guinea-fowls and the American turkeys, we have 13 genera and 63 species belonging to the Oriental and Palæarctic regions. These are grouped by Mr. Elliot (whose arrangement we mainly follow) in 5 sub-families, of which 3—Pavonniæ, Euplocaminæ, and Gallinæ—are chiefly Oriental, while the Lophophorniæ and Phasianinæ are mostly Palæarctic or from the highlands on theborders of the two regions. The genera adopted by Mr. Elliot in hisMonographare the following:—
Pavoninæ, 4 genera.—Pavo(2 sp.), Himalayas to Ceylon, Siam, to South-west China and Java;Argusianus(4 sp.), Siam, Malay Peninsula, and Borneo (Plate IX. Vol. I. p. 339);Polyplectron(5 sp.), Upper Assam to South-west China and Sumatra;Crossoptilon(4 sp.), Thibet and North China. (Plate III. Vol. I. p. 226.)
Lophophorinæ, 4 genera.—Lophophorus(3 sp.), High woody region of Himalayas from Cashmere to West China;Tetraophasis(1 sp.), East Thibet;Ceriornis(5 sp.), Highest woody Himalayas from Cashmere to Bhotan and Western China (Plate VII. Vol. I. p. 331);Pucrasia(3 sp.), Lower and High woody Himalayas from the Hindoo Koosh to North-west China.
Phasianinæ, 2 genera.—Phasianus(12 sp.), Western Asia to Japan and Formosa, south to near Canton and Yunan, and the Western Himalayas, north to the Altai Mountains;Thaumalea(3 sp.), North-western China and Mongolia. (Plate III. Vol. I. p. 226.)
Euplocaminæ, 2 genera.—Euplocamus(12 sp.), Cashmere, along Southern Himalayas to Siam, South China and Formosa, and to Sumatra and Borneo;Ithaginis(2 sp.), High Himalayas from Nepal to North-west China.
Gallinæ, 1 genus.—Gallus(4 sp.), Cashmere to Hainan, Ceylon, Borneo, Java, and eastwards to Celebes and Timor. (Central India, Ceylon, and East Java, have each a distinct species of Jungle-fowl.)
Meleagrinæ, 1 genus.—Meleagris(3 sp.), Eastern and Central United States and south to Mexico, Guatemala and Yucatan.
Agelastinæ, 2 genera.—Phasidus(1 sp.), West Africa;Agelastes(1 sp.), West Africa.
Numidinæ, 2 genera.—Acryllium(1 sp.), West Africa;Numida(9 sp.), Ethiopian region, east to Madagascar, south to Natal and Great Fish River.
Family89.—TURNICIDÆ. (2 Genera, 24 Species.)
The Turnicidæ are small Quail-like birds, supposed to have remote affinities with the American Tinamous, and with sufficient distinctive peculiarities to constitute a separate family. They range over the Old World, from Spain all through Africa and Madagascar, and over the whole Oriental region to Formosa, and then north again to Pekin, as well as south-eastward to Australia and Tasmania. The genusTurnix(23 sp.), has the range of the family;Ortyxelos(1 sp.), inhabits Senegal; but the latter genus may not belong to this family.
Family90.—MEGAPODIIDÆ. (4 Genera, 20 Species.)
The Megapodiidæ, or Mound-makers and Brush-turkeys, are generally dull-coloured birds of remarkable habits and economy, which have no near allies, but are supposed to have a remote affinity with the South American Curassows. They are highly characteristic of the Australian region, extending into almost every part of it except New Zealand and the remotest Pacific islands, and only sending two species beyond its limits,—aMegapodiusin the Philippine Islands and North-west Borneo, and another in the Nicobar Islands, separated by about 1,800 miles from its nearest ally in Lombok. The Philippine species offers little difficulty, for these birds are found on the smallestislands and sand-banks, and can evidently pass over a few miles of sea with ease; but the Nicobar bird is a very different case, because none of the numerous intervening islands offer a single example of the family. Instead of being a well-marked and clearly differentiated form, as we should expect to find it if its remote and isolated habitat were due to natural causes, it so nearly resembles some of the closely-allied species of the Moluccas and New Guinea, that, had it been found with them, it would hardly have been thought specifically extinct. I therefore believe that it is probably an introduction by the Malays, and that, owing to the absence of enemies and general suitability of conditions, it has thriven in the islands and has become slightly differentiated in colour from the parent stock. The following is the distribution of the genera at present known:—
Talegallus(2 sp.), New Guinea and East Australia;Megacephalon(1 sp.), East Celebes;Lipoa(1 sp.), South Australia;Megapodius(16 sp.), Philippine Islands and Celebes, to Timor, North Australia, New Caledonia, the Marian and Samoa Islands, and probably every intervening island,—also a species (doubtfully indigenous) in the Nicobar Islands.
Family91.—CRACIDÆ, (12 Genera, 53 Species.)
(Messrs. Sclater and Salvin's arrangement is here followed).
The Cracidæ, or Curassows and Guans, comprise the largest and handsomest game-birds of the Neotropical region, where they take the place of the grouse and pheasants of the Old World. They are almost all forest-dwellers, and are a strictly Neotropical family, only one species just entering the Nearctic region as far as New Mexico. They extend southward to Paraguay and the extreme south of Brazil, but none are found in theAntilles, nor west of the Andes south of the bay of Guayaquil. The sub-families and genera are as follows:—
Cracinæ, 4 genera.—Crax(8 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay (Plate XV., Vol. II. p.28);Nothocrax(1 sp.), Guiana, Upper Rio Negro, and Upper Amazon;Pauxi(1 sp.), Guiana to Venezuela;Mitua(2 sp.), Guiana and Upper Amazon.
Penelopinæ, 7 genera.—Stegnolæma(1 sp.), Columbia and Ecuador;Penelope(14 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay and to western slope of Ecuadorian Andes;Penelopina(1 sp.), Guatemala;Pipile(3 sp.), Venezuela to Eastern Brazil;Aburria(1 sp), Columbia;Chamæpetes(2 sp.), Costa Rica to Peru;Ortalida(18 sp.), New Mexico to Paraguay, also Tobago.
Oreophasinæ, 1 genus.—Oreophasis(1 sp.), Guatemala.
It thus appears that the Cracinæ are confined to South America east of the Andes, except one species in Central America; whereas nine Penelopinæ andOreophasisare found north of Panama. The species of the larger genera are strictly representative, each having its own distinct geographical area, so that two species of the same genus are rarely or never found in the same locality.
Family92.—TINAMIDÆ. (9 Genera, 39 Species.)
The Tinamous are a very remarkable family of birds, with the general appearance of partridges or hemipodes, but with the tail either very small or entirely wanting. They differ greatly in their organization from any of the Old World Gallinæ, and approach, in some respects, the Struthiones or Ostrich tribe. They are very terrestrial in their habits, inhabiting the forests, open plains, and mountains of the Neotropical region, from Patagonia and Chili to Mexico; but, like the Cracidæ, they are absent from the Antilles. Their colouring is very sober and protective, as is the case with so many ground-birds, and they are seldom adornedwith crests or other ornamental plumes, so prevalent in the order to which they belong. The sub-families and genera, according to the arrangement of Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, are as follows:—
Tinaminæ, 7 genera.—Tinamus(7 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay;Nothocercus(3 sp.), Costa Rica to Venezuela and Ecuador;Crypturus(16 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay and Bolivia;Rhynchotus(2 sp.), Bolivia and South Brazil to La Plata;Nothoprocta(4 sp.), Ecuador to Bolivia and Chili;Nothura(4 sp.), Brazil and Bolivia to Patagonia;Taoniscus(1 sp.), Brazil to Paraguay.
Tinamotinæ, 2 genera.—Calodromas(1 sp.), La Plata and Patagonia;Tinamotis(1 sp.), Andes of Peru and Bolivia.
General Remarks on the Distribution of Gallinæ.
There are about 400 known species of Gallinaceous birds grouped into 76 genera, of which no less than 65 are each restricted to a single region. The Tetraonidæ are the only cosmopolitan family, and even these do not extend into Temperate South America, and are very poorly represented in Australia. The Cracidæ and Tinamidæ are strictly Neotropical, the Megapodiidæ almost as strictly Australian. There remains the extensive family of the Phasianidæ, which offers some interesting facts. We have first the well-marked sub-families of the Numidinæ and Meleagrinæ, confined to the Ethiopian and Nearctic regions respectively, and we find the remaining five sub-families, comprising about 60 species, many of them the most magnificent of known birds, spread over the Oriental and the south-eastern portion of the Palæarctic regions. This restriction is remarkable, since there is no apparent cause in climate or vegetation why pheasants should not be found wild throughout southern Europe, as they were during late Tertiary and Post-Tertiary times. We have also to notice the remarkable absence of the Pheasant tribe from Hindostan and Ceylon, where the peacock and jungle-fowl are their sole representatives. These two forms also alone extend to Java, whereas in the adjacent islands of Borneo and Sumatra we haveArgusianus,Polyplectron, andEuplocamus. The common jungle-fowl (the origin of our domestic poultry) is the onlyspecies which enters the Australian region as far as Celebes and Timor, and another species (Gallus æneus) as far as Flores, and it is not improbable that these may have been introduced by man and become wild.
We have very little knowledge of the extinct forms of Gallinæ, but what we have assures us of their high antiquity, since we find such distinct groups as the jungle-fowl, partridges, andPterocles, represented in Europe in the Miocene period; while the Turkey, then as now, appears to have been a special American type.
Order VI.—OPISTHOCOMI.
Family93.—OPISTHOCOMIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
The Hoazin (Opisthocomus cristatus) is the sole representative of this family and of the order Opisthocomi. It inhabits the eastern side of Equatorial America in Guiana and the Lower Amazon; and at Pará is called "Cigana" or gipsy. It is a large, brown, long-legged, weakly-formed and loosely-crested bird, having such anomalies of structure that it is impossible to class it along with any other family. It is one of those survivors, which tell us of extinct groups, of whose past existence we should otherwise, perhaps, remain for ever ignorant.
Order VII.—ACCIPITRES.
Family94.—VULTURIDÆ. (10 Genera, 25 Species.)