II. The genera which are characteristic of the whole Malay Archipelago are the following (10):—
| 1. Erythrura | (Ploceidæ) | 6. Loriculus | (Psittacidæ) |
| 2. Pitta | (Pittidæ) | 7. Macropygia | (Columbidæ) |
| 3. Ceyx | (Alcedinidæ) | 8. Chalcophaps | " |
| 4. Calao | (Bucerotidæ) | 9. Calœnas | " |
| 5. Dendrochelidon | (Cypselidæ) | 10. Baza | (Falconidæ) |
III. The curious set of genera apparently of Indo-Malayan origin, but unknown in the Moluccas, are as follows:—
| 1. Eupetes | (Cinclidæ) | 4. Arachnothera | (Nectariniidæ) |
| 2. Alcippe | (Timaliidæ) | 5. Prionochilus | (Dicæidæ) |
| 3. Pomatorhinus | " | 6. Eulabes | (Sturnidæ) |
The above six birds are very important as indicating past changes in the Austro-Malay Islands, and we must say a few words about each. (1) Eupetes is very remarkable, since the New Guinea birds resemble in all important characters that which is confined to Malacca and Sumatra. They are probably the survivors of a once wide-spread Malayan group. (2) Alcippe or Drymocataphus (for in which genus the birds should be placed is doubtful) seems another clear case of a typical Indo-Malayan form occurring in New Guinea and Java, but in no intervening island. (3) Pomatorhinus is a most characteristic Himalayan and Indo-Malayan genus, occurring again in New Guinea and also in Australia, but in no intermediate island. The New Guinea bird seems as nearly related to Oriental as Australian species. (4) Arachnothera is exactly parallel to Alcippe, occurring nowhere east of Borneo except in New Guinea. (5) Prionochilus, a small black bird, sometimes classed as a distinct genus, but evidently allied to the Prionochili of the Indo-Malay Islands. (6) Eulabes, the genus which contains the well known Mynahs of India, extends east of Java as far as Flores, but is not found in Celebes or the Moluccas. The two New Guinea species are sometimes classed in different genera, but they are undoubtedly allied to the Mynahs of India and Malaya.
We find then, that while the ornithology of New Guinea is preeminently Australian in character and possesses many peculiar developments of Australian types, it has also—as might be expected from its geographical position, its climate, and its vegetation—received an infusion of Malayan forms. But while one group of these is spread over the whole Archipelago, and occasionally beyond it, there is another group which presents the unusual and interesting feature of discontinuous distribution, jumping over a thousand miles of island-studded sea from Java and Borneo to New Guinea itself. It is a parallel case to that of Java in the Oriental region, which we have already discussed, but the suggested explanation in that case is more difficult to apply here. The recent soundings by the Challenger show us, that although the several islands of the Moluccas are surrounded by water from 1,200 to 2,800 fathoms deep, yet these seas form inclosed basins with rims not more than from 400 to 900 fathoms deep, suggesting the idea of great lakes or inland seas which have sunk down bodily with the surrounding land, or that enormous local and restricted elevations and subsidences have here occurred. We have also the numerous small islands and coral banks south of Celebes and eastward towards Timor-Laut and the Aru Islands, indicating great subsidence; and it is possible that there was an extension of Papua to the west, approaching sufficiently near to Java to receive occasional straggling birds of Indo-Malay type, altogether independent of the Moluccas to the north.
Bright Colours and Ornamental Plumage of New Guinea Birds.—One of the most striking features of Papuan ornithology is the large proportion which the handsome and bright-coloured birds bear to the more obscure species. That this is really the case has been ascertained by going over my own collections, made at Aru and New Guinea, and comparing them with my collection made at Malacca—a district remarkable for the number of handsome birds it produces. Using, as nearly as possible, the same standard of beauty, about one-third of the Malacca birds may be classed as handsome,[[14]] while in Papua the proportion comes out exactly one-half. This is due, in part to the great abundance of parrots, cockatoos, and lories, almost all of which are beautiful; and of pigeons, more than half of which are very beautiful; as well as to the numerous kingfishers, most of which are excessively brilliant. Then we have the absence of thrushes, and the very small numbers of the warblers, shrikes, and Timaliidæ, which are dull-coloured groups; and, lastly, the presence of numerous gay pittas, flycatchers, and the unequalled family of paradise-birds. A large number of birds adorned with metallic plumage is also a marked feature of this fauna, more than a dozen genera being so distinguished. Among the remarkable forms are Peltops, a flycatcher, long classed as one of the Indo-Malayan Eurylæmidæ, which it resembles both in bill and coloration; Machærirhynchus, curious little boat-billed flycatchers; and Todopsis, a group of terrestrial flycatchers with the brilliant colours of Pitta or Malurus. The paradise-birds present the most wonderful developments of plumage and the most gorgeous varieties of colour, to be found among passerine birds. The great whiskered-swift, the handsomest bird in the entire family, has its head-quarters here. Among kingfishers the elegant long-tailed Tanysipteræ are preeminent, whether for singularity or beauty. Among parrots, New Guinea possesses the great black cockatoo, one of the largest and most singular birds in the order; Nasiterna, the smallest of known parrots; and Charmosyna, perhaps the most elegant. Lastly, among the pigeons we have the fine crowned-pigeons, the largest and most remarkable group of the order.
Plate X.
SCENE IN NEW GUINEA, WITH CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS.