The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

IX.] XATURAL HISTORY OF THE IXDO-MALAY ISLANDS. 113all common to the two former countries, wliile they are absentfrom the latter. Of tlie three long-tailed monkeys (Semnopithecus)inhaljiting Sumatra, one extends into Borneo, but thetwo species of Java are both peculiar to it. »So also the greatMalay deer (Rusa equina), and the small Tragulus kanchil, arecommon to Sumatra and Borneo, but do not extend into Java,where they are replaced by Tragulus javanicus. The tiger, it istrue, is found in Sumatra and Java, but not in Borneo. But asthis animal is known to swim well, it may have found its wayacross the Straits of Sunda, or it may have inhabited Java beforeit was separated from the main land, and from some unknowncause have ceased to exist in Borneo.In Ornithology there is a little uncertainty owing to the birdsof Java and Sumatra being much better known than those ofBorneo ; but the ancient separation of Java as an island is wellexhibited by the large number of its species which are not foundin any of the other islands. It possesses no less than sevenpigeons peculiar to itself, while Sumatra has only one. Of itstwo parrots one extends into Borneo, but neither into Sumatra.Of the fifteen species of woodpeckers inhabiting Sumatra onlyfour reach Java, while eight of them are found in Borneo andtwelve in the Malay peninsula. The two Trogons found in Javaare peculiar to it, wliile of those inhabiting Sumatra at leasttwo extend to Malacca and one to Borneo. There are a verylarge number of birds, such as the great Argus pheasant, thefire-backed and ocellated pheasants, the crested partridge (Eolluluscoronatus), the small Malacca parrot (Psittinus incertus),the great helmeted hornbill (Buceroturus galeatus), the pheasantground-cuckoo (Carpococcyx radiatus), the rose-crestedbee-eater (Nyctiornis amicta), the great gaper (Corj^don sumatranus),and the green-crested gaper (Calyptomena viridis), andmany others, which are common to Malacca, Sumati'a, andBorneo, but are entirely absent from Java. On the other handwe have the peacock, the green jungle cock, two blue groundthrushes (Arrenga cyanea and Myophonus flavirostris), the finepink-headed dove (Ptilonopus porphyreus), three broad-tailedground pigeons (Macroi^ygia), and many other interestingbirds, which are found nowhere in the Archipelago out ofJava.Insects furnish us with similar facts wherever sufficient dataare to be had, but owing to the abundant collections that havebeen made in Java, an unfair prejoonderance may be given tothat island. This does not, however, seem to be the case withthe true Papilionidse or swallow-tailed buttei'flies, whose largesize and gorgeous colouring has led to their being collected moi'efrequently than other insects. Twenty-seven species are knownfrom Java, twenty-nine from Borneo, and only twenty-one fromSumatra. Four are entirely confined to Java, wliile only twoare peculiar to Borneo and one to Sumatra. The isolation ofhowever, be best shown by groujoiug the islands inJava will,I