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Show 1869.] FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. 125 VII. HERODIONES. Distribution. 33. Ardea sacra India, Australia, and Polynesia. VIII. GAVIAE. 34. Sterna lunata Polynesia. It thus appears that of the thirty-four authentically determined species of birds of the Solomon Islands seventeen are certainly, as far as is hitherto known, and three others probably, peculiar to the group. Of the remaining fourteen, five have likewise been met with in N e w Ireland, which is one of a neighbouring group of islands probably belonging strictly to the same fauna; one has hitherto only been found in the Lousiade Islands; and the remainder are of more or less extended distribution, being, however, mostly restricted to the Papuan Islands. But to obtain a better idea of the true nature of the avifauna of the Solomon Islands we may first consider very shortly what are the principal divisions of the great region of which it forms a part. The Australian region (Regio australiana), as I have proposed to call this*, appears to be most naturally divisible into five subregions, namely:- 1. The Papuan subregion (Subregio papuana), or Austro-Malayan Subregion of Wallace*!*. 2. The true Australian subregion (Subregio australis), comprising continental Australia, with, perhaps, the exception of the northern promontory of Cape York, which has been overrun by Papuan forms (such as Cuscus, Casuarius, Manucodia, & c ) . 3. The New-Zealandian or Maorian subregion (Subregio mao-riana), which is characterized by the recently extinct Dinornithes, as well as by the presence of numerous peculiar ornithic types. 4. The Polynesian subregion (Subregio polynesica), comprising the numerous groups of Polynesian islands lying between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. 5. The Sandwich-Island subregion (Subregio sandvicensis), comprising only the Sandwich Islands, which are so very peculiar in their zoology that they must, I think, stand by themselves. A very short examination of the foregoing list of the birds of the Solomon Islands will be sufficient to show us to which of these sub-regions this group of islands properly belongs. One of the principal features which distinguishes the Papuan subregion from the true Australian subregion is the occurrence in the former of numerous Indian types which do not extend into the latter. For example, the Hornbills (Bucerotidee) are entirely foreign to Australia, but are found in the Papuan and Moluccan Islands. One species (Buceros ruficollis) only has yet been met with in N e w Guinea. This bird also occurs in the present collection from the Solomon Islands. Again, the genus Gracula is a well-known Indian form, but extends also over the Papuan subregion of Regio australiana, being, however, * Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. Zool. ii. p. 130. + Cf. Wallace, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 273, et Journ. Geogr. Soc. xxxiii. p. 217. |