The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

——418 ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. [part. hi.in any of the Moluccas, we can hardly suppose that such largeanimals as the deer and ape, could have reached them bynatural means. There is every reason to believe, therefore, thatthe indigenous Mammalia of the Moluccas are wholly of Papuanstock, and very limited in number.The birds are much more varied and interesting. About 200species of land-birds are now known, belonging to 85 genera. Ofthe species about 15 are Indo-Malayan, 32 Papuan, and about140 peculiar. Of the genera only two are peculiar, Semioptera,a paradise bird, and Lycocorax, a singular form of Corvidse ;butthere is also a peculiar rail-like wader, Habroptila. One genus,Basilornis, is found only in Ceram and Celebes ;another, Scythrops,is Australian, and perhaps a migrant. About 30 genera arecharacteristic Papuan types, and 37 others, of more or lesswiderange, are found in New Guinea and were therefore probablyderived thence. There remains a group of birds which are notfound in New Guinea, and are either Palasarctic or Oriental.These are 13 in number as follows :1. Monticola. 8. Corydalla.2. Acrocephalus. 9. Hydrornis.3. Cisticola. 10. Batrachostomus.4 Hypolais. 11. Loriculus.5. Criniger. 12. Treron.6. Butalis. 13. Neopus.7. Budytes.Of these the Monticola, found only in Gilolo, appears tobe astraggler or migrant from the Philippine islands. Acrocephalus,of which four species occur, is a wide-spread group ; one ofthe Moluccan birds is an Australian and another a North-Asianspecies, which perhaps indicates that there has long been somemigration southward from island to island, across the Moluccas.Cisticola is a genus of very wide range, extending to Australia.Hypolais is probably a modified form of a Chinese or Javanesespecies. Criniger is a pure Indo-Malay form, representedhere by three fine species. Butalis is a Chinese species, nodoubt straggling southward. Budytes and Corydalla are widespreadOriental and Palsearctic species or slight modifications ofthem. Hydrornis is a Malayan form of Pittidse. Batrachostomusis a distinct representative of a purely Indo-Malay genus. Lori-