Alfred Russel Wallace

“ The Trogons form a well-marked family of insectivorous forest-haunting birds, whose dense yet puffy plumage exhibits the most exquisite tints of pink, crimson, orange, brown, or metallic green, often relieved by delicate bands of pure white. In one Guatemalan species the tail coverts are enormously lengthened into waving plumes of rich metallic green, as graceful and marvellous as those of the Paradise-birds. Trogons are tolerably abundant in the Neotropical and Oriental regions, and are represented in Africa by a single species of a peculiar genus. ”

“ The Neotropical region is very rich in peculiar genera, though but moderately so in number of species. The Oriental region closely approaches it in both respects; but the Australian region is by far the richest, possessing nearly double the genera and species of any other region, and abounding in remarkable forms quite unlike those of any other part of the globe. ”

“ The existence in the Mascarene Islands of a group of such remarkable terrestrial birds, with aborted wings, is parallel to that of the Apteryx and Dinornis in New Zealand, the Cassowaries of Austro-Malaya, and the short-winged Rails of New Zealand, Tristan d'Acunha, and other oceanic islands; and the phenomenon is clearly dependent on the long-continued absence of enemies, which allowed of great increase of bulk and the total loss of the power of flight, without injury. In some few cases (the Ostrich for example) birds incapable of flight co-exist with large carnivorous mammalia ”

“ The Picariæ are highly characteristic of tropical faunas, for while no less than 15 out of the 25 families are exclusively tropical, none are confined to, or have their chief development in, the temperate regions. They are best represented in the Ethiopian region, which possesses 17 families, 4 of which are peculiar to it; while the Oriental region has only 14 families, none of which are peculiar. The Neotropical region has also 14 families, but 6 of them are peculiar. The Australian region has 8, the Palæarctic 9 and the Nearctic 6 families, but none of these are peculiar. ”

“ The Megapodiidæ, or Mound-makers and Brush-turkeys, are generally dull-coloured birds of remarkable habits and economy, which have no near allies, but are supposed to have a remote affinity with the South American Curassows. They are highly characteristic of the Australian region, extending into almost every part of it except New Zealand and the remotest Pacific islands, and only sending two species beyond its limits,—a Megapodius in the Philippine Islands and North-west Borneo, and another in the Nicobar Islands, separated by about 1,800 miles from its nearest ally in Lombok. ”

“ The striking preponderance of Pigeons, both as to genera and species, in the Australian region, would seem to indicate that at some former period it possessed a more extensive land area in which this form of bird-life took its rise. ”

“ Being best adapted to live in warm or temperate climates, they diminish rapidly northwards, reaching about 62° N. Latitude in North America, but considerably farther in Europe. Both the Nearctic and Palæarctic regions are very poor in genera and species of pigeons, those of the former region being mostly allied to Neotropical, and those of the latter to Oriental and Ethiopian types. The Ethiopian region is, however, itself very poor, and several of its peculiar forms are confined to the Madagascar sub-region. ”

“ Family 73.—CAPRIMULGIDÆ. (17 Genera, 91 Species.)
The Goat-suckers, or Night-jars, are crepuscular insectivorous birds, which take their prey on the wing, and are remarkable for their soft and beautifully mottled plumage, swift and silent flight, and strange cries often imitating the human voice. They are universally distributed, except that they do not reach New Zealand or the remoter Pacific Islands. The South American genus, Nyctibius, differs in structure and habits from the other goat-suckers and should perhaps form a distinct family. ”

“ The portion of the earth's surface that contains the largest number of parrots in proportion to its area is, undoubtedly, the Austro-Malayan sub-region, including the islands from Celebes to the Solomon Islands. ”

“ The Tetraonidæ, including the Grouse, Partridges, Quails, and allied forms, abound in all parts of the Eastern continents; they are less plentiful in North America and comparatively scarce in South America, more than half the Neotropical species being found north of Panama; and in the Australian region there are only a few of small size. ”

“ The Ethiopian region probably contains most species; next comes the Oriental—India proper from the Himalayas to Ceylon having twenty; while the Australian region, with 15 species, is the poorest. These facts render it probable that the Tetraonidæ are essentially denizens of the great northern continents, and that their entrance into South America, Australia, and even South Africa, is, comparatively speaking, recent. ”

“ The island of Tres Marias, about 60 miles from the west coast of Mexico, possesses a peculiar species of humming-bird, and the Bahamas two species; but none inhabit either the Falkland Islands or the Galapagos.
Like most groups which are very rich in species and in generic forms, the humming-birds are generally very local, small generic groups being confined to limited districts; while single mountains, valleys, or small islands, often possess species found nowhere else. ”

“ In America a species of Conurus reaches the straits of Magellan on the south, while another inhabits the United States, and once extended to the great lakes, although now confined to the south-eastern districts. In Africa parrots do not reach the northern tropic, owing to the desert nature of the country ”

“ Here also, alone, we meet with crested pigeons, rendering the possessors more conspicuous; such as the Lopholaimus of Australia and the crowned Goura of New Guinea; and here too are more peculiar forms of terrestrial pigeons than elsewhere, though none have completely lost the power of flight but the now extinct Dididæ.
The curious liking of pigeons for an insular habitat is well shown in the genera Ianthœnas and Calœnas. ”

“ They were almost certainly developed in the Oriental and Palæarctic regions, but reached the Neotropical at a very early date, where they have since been completely isolated. Africa must have long remained without cuckoos, the earliest immigration being to Madagascar at the time of the approximation of that sub-region to Ceylon and Malaya. ”

“ The Flamingoes (Phœnicopterus) seem peculiar to the Ethiopian and Neotropical regions, ranging from the former into India and South Europe. America has four species, inhabiting Chili and La Plata, the Galapagos, Mexico and the West Indian islands; the others range over all Africa, South Europe, India and Ceylon. ”

“ This view is further supported by the great development of colour that is found in the pigeons of these insular regions, culminating in the golden-yellow fruit-dove of the Fiji Islands, the metallic green Nicobar-pigeon of Malaya, and the black and crimson Alectrœnas of Mauritius. ”

“ The almost universal distribution of Parrots wherever the climate is sufficiently mild or uniform to furnish them with a perennial supply of food, no less than their varied details of organization, combined with a great uniformity of general type,—tell us, in unmistakable language, of a very remote antiquity. ”

“ Psittinus (1 sp.) , Tenasserim to Sumatra and Borneo; Cyclopsitta (8 sp.) , Papuan Islands, Philippines and North-east Australia; Loriculus (17 sp.) , ranges over the whole Oriental region to Flores, the Moluccas, and the Papuan island of Mysol; but most of the species are concentrated in the district including the Philippines, Celebes, Gilolo, and Flores, there being 1 in India, 1 in South China, 1 in Ceylon, 1 in Java, 1 in Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, 3 in Celebes, 5 in the Philippines, and the rest in the Moluccas, Mysol, and Flores. This genus forms a transition to the next family. ”

“ Ortalida (18 sp.) , New Mexico to Paraguay, also Tobago.
Oreophasinæ, 1 genus.—Oreophasis (1 sp.) , Guatemala.
It thus appears that the Cracinæ are confined to South America east of the Andes, except one species in Central America; whereas nine Penelopinæ and Oreophasis are found north of Panama. The species of the larger genera are strictly representative, each having its own distinct geographical area, so that two species of the same genus are rarely or never found in the same locality. ”

“ These large birds were formerly very abundant, and being excellent eating and readily captured, the early voyagers to these islands used them largely for food. As they could be caught by man, and very easily by dogs, they were soon greatly diminished in numbers ”

“ In these two regions they have greatly flourished, while in the two other tropical regions only a few types have been found, capable of maintaining themselves, among the higher forms of mammalia, and in competition with a more varied series of birds. ”

“ Nyctala (4 sp.) , the North Temperate zone; Strix (18 sp.) , universally distributed; Phodilus (1 sp.) , Himalayas and Malaya.
In Mr. Sharpe's Catalogue (published while this work was passing through the press) the genera of Owls are reduced to 19, arranged in two families—Strigidæ, containing our last two genera, and Bubonidæ, comprising the remainder. The species are increased to 190; but some genera are reduced, as Strix, which is said to contain only 5 species.
General Remarks on the Distribution of the Accipitres. ”

“ Xiphidiopicus (1 sp.) , Cuba; Melanerpes (11 sp.) , Brazil to Canada, Porto Rico; Leuconerpes (1 sp.) , Bolivia to North Brazil; Colaptes (9 sp.) , La Plata and Bolivia to Arctic America, Greater Antilles; Hypoxanthus (1 sp.) , Venezuela and Ecuador; (2187) Geocolaptes (1 sp.) , South Africa ”