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Show 1873.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 669 INDIAN SUBREGION. W e now come to that part of the Indo-Malay region which, as I previously said, is remarkable for the absence or comparative scarcity of many of the principal Malay groups, and which I term the Indian subregion. Mr. Blanford, when considering the geographical distribution of Indian reptiles (see J. A. S. B. 1870), and influenced, no doubt, by his knowledge of other branches of natural history, divides India into four provinces. One of these, his eastern Bengal province, including Lower Bengal, Assam, and Cachar, should, as he justly says, be classed with the Indo-Chinese countries, and therefore included in the Himalo-Chinese subregion. A second, called by him the Punjab province, includes the most arid and treeless parts of India-that is to say, the Punjaub, Scinde, the trans-Indus provinces, western Rajputana, and Cutch. This, though tinged more or less with the Malay element, and possessing most of the genera peculiar to the Indian subregion, has such a large proportion of Palaearctic and desert-haunting species, that, though it is desirable to include it in the Indian subregion, it must be regarded as a border-land separating the Indo-Malay from the Palaearctic region, as that is separated from the Ethiopian by the deserts of Libya and the Sahara. Mr. Blanford's other two divisions, in which I entirely concur, are as follows:- The Indian province proper, including all India east of Delhi and Kathiawar as far as the Rajmahal hills, and the whole peninsula south of the Ganges, with the exception of the western coast and some scattered hills in Southern India. The Malabar province, including all the western coast from Bombay to Cape Comorin, and the whole of the mountains running parallel to that coast probably as far as the Taptee, also the greater part of Ceylon. It should be observed that, in the opinion of some, the special features which Ceylon affords in some branches of zoology would entitle it to be ranked as a separate subregion. This, however, would not be desirable in an ornithological sense, as it does not, as far as I am aware, contain a single genus peculiar to the island, though it has some remarkable points in common with the Malayan and Himalayan subregions. CEYLON. The birds of Ceylon have been ably worked out by Mr. Holds-worth in the P. Z. S. for 1872 ; and the list which he gives, numbering 325 species, probably includes almost every species inhabiting the island. Deducting the Grallae and Anseres, as usual, we have 225 birds from which to form an opinion as to the zoogeographical affinities of Ceylon, and, from an examination of the list, get the following results:- |