For Example, Among The Commonest
Birds In Lombock Were White Cockatoos And Three Species Of
Meliphagidae Or Honeysuckers, Belonging To Family Groups Which Are
Entirely Absent From The Western Or Indo-Malayan Region Of The
Archipelago.
On passing to Flores and Timor the distinctness from the
Javanese productions increases, and we find that these islands form a
natural group, whose birds are related to those of Java and Australia,
but are quite distinct from either.
Besides my own collections in
Lombock and Timor, my assistant Mr. Allen made a good collection in
Flores; and these, with a few species obtained by the Dutch
naturalists, enable us to form a very good idea of the natural history
of this group of islands, and to derive therefrom some very
interesting results.
The number of birds known from these islands up to this date is: 63
from Lombock, 86 from Flores, and 118 from Timor; and from the whole
group, 188 species. With the exception of two or three species which
appear to have been derived from the Moluccas, all these birds can be
traced, either directly or by close allies, to Java on the one side or
to Australia on the other; although no less than 82 of them are found
nowhere out of this small group of islands. There is not, however, a
single genus peculiar to the group, or even one which is largely
represented in it by peculiar species; and this is a fact which
indicates that the fauna is strictly derivative, and that its origin
does not go back beyond one of the most recent geological epochs.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 280 of 419
Words from 76367 to 76635
of 114260
