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Show 1873.] DISTRIBUTION OF ASIATIC BIRDS. 679 unlike the other parts of the subregion. Cory don, Calyptomena, and Cymbirhynchus are all absent; only three species of Hornbills occur, whilst there are seven or eight in Sumatra and nine in the Malay peninsula. No species of Argus, Polyplectron, or Euplocamus, all of which are found in the other islands, is known from Java ; but, to make up for the want of them, it has a Jungle-fowl (Gallus varius, Shaw) not found in the islands to the west of it. Among the Columbae it has 7 peculiar species, namely:-Treron pulverulentus,Wa\\.; Ptilonopus porphyrius, Reinwt.; P. melanocephalus, Gm.; Carpophaga lacer-nulata, Temm.; Macropygia emiliana, Bp.; 31. walichaehra, Reich.; M. leptogrammica,Temm. Other fine birds from Java are:-Arrenga cyanea, Horsf.; Myiophonusflavirostris,Ilorsi.; Myiophagaandro-medon, Temm., which extends to Lombock and is very similar in appearance to the Himalayan genus Zoothera ; Loriculus pusillus, G. R. Gray ; and Cissa thalassina, Temm., a near ally of which, if not the same bird, is found in Sumatra. SUMATRA. The island of Sumatra, which is nearly 1000 miles in length, and lies under the equator, contains mountains of great elevation, probably exceeding 12,000 feet. It is therefore evident that the birds known to occur there (which do not exceed about 240) represent but imperfectly the avifauna of so large an island. Sir Stamford Raffles, assisted by Dr. Arnold, and for a time# by the French naturalists Diard and Duvaucel, collected largely in the neighbourhood of Achen and Bencoolen ; but the greater part of his collections, together with all his papers, were lost by the burning of the ship in which they were embarked for England. Since his time S. Miiller and other Dutch naturalists have made collections, principally, I believe, near Padang, on the south coast. Mr. Wallace also spent three months in the southern part of the island ; but the greater part of the interior, and especially the northern half, is still quite unknown. The birds and animals seem to be remarkably similar to those of the Malay peninsula, not more than about twenty species being at present supposed to be peculiar to the island. Among them are Psilopogon pyrolophus, T e m m . (a fine Barbet, the only one of its genus), AUthopyga temminckii, Miill., and Pitta venusta, Miill. Four birds which are usually assigned to the genus Garrulax are known from Sumatra, of which Garrulax bicolor, Miill., resembling G. belangeri of Tenasserim, and G. palliata, allied to G. monachus, Swinh., are outlying representatives of the genus. Garrulax lugubris and G. mitrata, Miill., however, are of quite a different type, the former being a peculiar bird with deep-curved bill and bare skin behind the eye like a Eulabes, while the latter somewhat resembles Timalia thoracica in colour and form. Cissa minor, Cab., and Platylophus ardesiacus, Cab., differ but slightly from their representatives in Java and Malacca. Stachyris larvata, Miill., I have not seen ; but if a true Stachyris, it is an interesting occurrence, as the genus is decidedly Himalayan. |
