Of Its
Two Parrots One Extends Into Borneo, But Neither Into Sumatra.
Of
the fifteen species of woodpeckers inhabiting Sumatra only four
reach Java, while eight of them are found in Borneo and twelve in
the Malay peninsula.
The two Trogons found in Java are peculiar
to it, while of those inhabiting Sumatra at least two extend to
Malacca and one to Borneo. There are a very large number of
birds, such as the great Argus pheasant, the fire-backed and
ocellated pheasants, the crested partridge (Rollulus coronatus),
the small Malacca parrot (Psittinus incertus), the great helmeted
hornbill (Buceroturus galeatus), the pheasant ground-cuckoo
(Carpococcyx radiatus), the rose-crested bee-eater (Nyctiornis
amicta), the great gaper (Corydon sumatranus), and the green-
crested gaper (Calyptomena viridis), and many others, which are
common to Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, but are entirely absent
from Java. On the other hand we have the peacock, the green
jungle cock, two blue ground thrushes (Arrenga cyanea and
Myophonus flavirostris), the fine pink-headed dove (Ptilonopus
porphyreus), three broad-tailed ground pigeons (Macropygia), and
many other interesting birds, which are found nowhere in the
Archipelago out of Java.
Insects furnish us with similar facts wherever sufficient data
are to be had, but owing to the abundant collections that have
been made in Java, an unfair preponderance may be given to that
island. This does not, however, seem to be the case with the true
Papilionidae or swallow-tailed butterflies, whose large size and
gorgeous colouring has led to their being collected more frequently
than other insects. Twenty-seven species are known from Java,
twenty-nine from Borneo, and only twenty-one from Sumatra. Four are
entirely confined to Java, while only two are peculiar to Borneo and
one to Sumatra. The isolation of Java will, however, be best shown by
grouping the islands in pairs, and indicating the number of species
common to each pair. Thus: -
Borneo . . . . . 29 species
Sumatra . . . . . 21 do. 20 species common to both islands.
Making some allowance for our imperfect knowledge of the Sumatran
species, we see that Java is more isolated from the two larger
islands than they are from each other, thus entirely confirming
the results given by the distribution of birds and Mammalia, and
rendering it almost certain that the last-named island was the
first to be completely separated from the Asiatic continent, and
that the native tradition of its having been recently separated
from Sumatra is entirely without foundation.
We are now able to trace out with some probability the course
of events. Beginning at the time when the whole of the Java sea,
the Gulf of Siam, and the Straits of Malacca were dry land,
forming with Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, a vast southern
prolongation of the Asiatic continent, the first movement would
be the sinking down of the Java sea, and the Straits of Sunda,
consequent on the activity of the Javanese volcanoes along the
southern extremity of the land, and leading to the complete
separation of that island.
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