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Show 676 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL [June 17, Besides these, Mr. Hume notices a large number of wading and water-birds, in which Sindh is probably richer than any other part of India. Some of these are European species which come no further eastward. A paper by Dr. Stoliczka on the natural history of Cutch, or (as I suppose it is properly written) Kachh, in the J. A. S.B. 1872, pt. 2, no. 3, gives a valuable list of birds noticed by him in that little-known part of Western India. It seems to show that though an arid and desolate country, the avifauna is still to a great extent of the same character as that of parts of Central India and the Dec-can, which are more fertile and better wooded. Though so near Sindh, there is a considerable difference in the birds, many of those most abundant in the adjoining province being here wanting. On the whole, however, I should be inclined to consider Kachh with Sindh as the frontier land of the Palaearctic and Indo-Malay regions, though with a more decided affinity for the latter. It is quite possible that a change in the climate which would bring more rain to Kachh would also cause a great change in its avifauna, and would replace the present scanty list by a much more rich and varied one. The remarks of Dr. Stoliczka (I. s. c. p. 2l7,"'footnote) are so applicable to the conditions of many places in the plains of India, that I transcribe them for the consideration of those who think that the range of birds is influenced entirely by geographical position. " Too much importance is, I think, occasionally attributed to the so-called laws of geographical distribution, independently of other agencies, as if these laws were innate to the animal. When speaking of the geographical distribution of a species, one is apt to forget that these geographical limits are mainly dependant on the physical conditions required for, and suitable to, the existence of a certain species. A change in the physical conditions of a country will be rapidly followed by a corresponding change in the fauna, either decreasing or increasing, and thus the geographical limits of a species become mainly dependent on physical conditions." As the number of land-birds obtained by Dr. Stoliczka during his stay in Kachh does not exceed 115, and most of them are either migrants or common Indian birds of very wide range, I need not give an analysis of them, but will now go on to that part of the Indo- Malay region which I propose to call the Malay subregion. I am personally quite incompetent to do justice to this part of the work, but think that a slight sketch of the leading features of its avifauna will make the remainder of the map more clear to those of my readers who have not previously studied the subject. MALAY SUBREGION. The absence of any recent or complete account of Malayan ornithology, and the confusion which exists in their synonymy, makes the study of the birds of the great islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo much more difficult than those of India or China. With the sole exception of Mr. Wallace, whose travels have added |
