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Show 1873.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 663 In the Nicobars, not more than about 30 land-birds are yet known, among which Calcenas nicobarica and Megapodius nico-bariensis are most remarkable. Neither of these birds is known to inhabit any other island in the Indo-Malay region, Megapodius being quite of an Austro-Malay type. The birds of Nicobar are much more Malayan than those of Andaman, only about one quarter being common to India, while nearly half are peculiar *. EAST TIBET. The researches of that enthusiastic naturalist and traveller the Abbe Armand David have recently added enormously to our knowledge of Chinese zoology. In no locality has he discovered so many new, curious, and interesting birds and mammals as in Moupin, a district which he tells m e is on the borders of Tibet and Szechuen, and, if I understood him rightly, some distance north-west of Ta-tsien-lo, where a missionary station has been established for many years. During eight months that he collected in this neighbourhood he obtained about 40 new species of birds, and a number of new mammalia, which include some of the most anomalous and interesting forms in the whole of Asia. Among them may be cited Ailuropus melanoleucos, M.-Edw., Arctonyx obscurus, M.-Edw., Rhinopithecus roxellana, M.-Edw., Elaphodus eephalopus, M.- Edw. ; but though, as in other cases, the mammalia fully bear out the conclusions I have formed from a study of the birds, I do not intend to say more about them, except that I believe such an interesting and novel collection was never previously obtained in so short a time. With regard to the physical features of Moupin, we have far less information than would be desirable ; but from what Pere David told me, and from what Mr. Cooper says of the country he passed through to the south f, I imagine that it must strongly resemble the interior valleys of the eastern Himalaya. Rhododendrons, bamboos, and conifers are marked features in the scenery; and in consequence almost all the birds which in Sikim are most characteristic of those types of vegetation are either present or represented by nearly allied species. The similarity between the faunas of Moupin and Sikim is most remarkable, and, in connexion with Mr. Swinhoe's recent discoveries in the hills of China, explains what would have otherwise been very * A recent paper by Mr. H u m e in 'Stray Feathers,' pt. v., on additional species of birds from the Andamans, adds a considerable number to Mr. Ball's list. Among the six new species described one is most remarkable, viz. Rhyticeros narcondami. This Hornbill, which appears to be a dwarf form of Rhyticeros ruficollis, has only been found on the small island of Narcondam ; while the family to which it belongs is unrepresented in any of the other islands; it is the only Asiatic Hornbill peculiar to one island, and almost the only one which has not a very considerable range. Most of the other birds mentioned by Mr. H u m e are local forms of well-known species, or migrants of very wide range. t Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce, London, 1871. |