Birds.—To give an accurate idea of the ornithology of this sub-region is very difficult, both on account of its extreme richness and the impossibility of defining the limits between it and the Oriental region. A considerable number of genera which are well developed in the high Himalayas, and some which are peculiar to that district, have hitherto always been classed as Indian, and therefore Oriental groups; but they more properly belong to this sub-region. Many of them frequent the highest forests, or descend into the Himalayan temperate zone only in winter; and others are so intimately connected with Palæarctic species, that they can only be considered as stragglers into the border land of the Oriental region. On these principles we consider the following genera to be confined to this sub-region:—
Grandala, Nemura (Sylviidæ); Pterorhinus (Timaliidæ); Cholornis, Conostoma, Heteromorpha (Panuridæ); Cyanoptila (Muscicapidæ); Eophona (Fringillidæ); Dendrotreron (Columbidæ); Lophophorus, Tetraophasis, Crossoptilon, Pucrasia, Thaumalea, and Ithaginis (Phasianidæ). This may be called the sub-region of Pheasants; for the above six genera, comprising sixteen species of the most magnificent birds in the world, are all confined to the temperate or cold mountainous regions of the Himalayas, Thibet, and China; and in addition we have most of the species of tragopan (Ceriornis), and some of the true pheasants (Phasianus).
The most abundant and characteristic of the smaller birds are warblers, tits, and finches, of Palæarctic types; but there are also a considerable number of Oriental forms which penetrate far into the country, and mingling with the northern birds give a character to the Ornithology of this sub-region very different from that of the Mediterranean district at the western end of the region. Leaving out a large number of wide-ranging groups, this mixture of types may be best exhibited by giving lists of the more striking Palæarctic and Oriental genera which are here found intermingled.
| Palæarctic Genera. | ||
Sylviidæ. Cinclidæ. Troglodytidæ. Certhiidæ. Paridæ. | Corvidæ. Ampelidæ. Fringillidæ. Sturnidæ. | Alaudidæ. Picidæ. Yungidæ. Pteroclidæ. Tetraonidæ. Vulturidæ. Falconidæ. |
| Oriental Genera. | ||
Sylviidæ. Turdidæ. Timaliidæ. Panuridæ. Cinclidæ. Troglodytidæ. Liotrichidæ. | Pycnonotidæ. Campephagidæ. Dicruridæ. Muscicapidæ. Corvidæ. Nectarineidæ. Motacillidæ. Dicæidæ. Fringillidæ. Ploceidæ. | Sturnidæ. Pittidæ. Picidæ. Coraciidæ. Alcedinidæ. Upupidæ. Psittacidæ. Columbidæ. Phasianidæ. Strigidæ. |
In the above lists there are rather more Oriental than Palæarctic genera; but it must be remembered that most of the former are summer migrants only, or stragglers just entering the sub-region; whereas the great majority of the latter are permanent residents, and a large proportion of them range over the greater part of the Manchurian district. Many of those in the Oriental column should perhaps be omitted, as we have no exact determination of their range, and the limits of the regions are very uncertain. It must be remembered, too, that the Palæarctic genera of Sylviidæ, Paridæ, and Fringillidæ, are often represented by numerous species, whereas the corresponding Oriental genera have for the most part only single species; and we shall then find that, except towards the borders of the Oriental region the Palæarctic element is strongly predominant. Four of the more especially Oriental groups are confined to Japan, the southern extremity of which should perhaps come in the Oriental region. The great richness of this sub-region compared with that of Siberia is well shown by the fact, that a list of all the known land-birds of East Siberia, including Dahuria and the comparatively fertile Amoor Valley, contains only 190 species; whereas Père David's catalogue of the birds of Northern China with adjacent parts of East Thibet and Mongolia (a very much smaller area) contains for the same families 366 species. Of the Siberian birds more than 50 per cent, are European species, while those of the Manchurian sub-region comprise about half that proportion of land-birds which are identical with those of Europe.
Japan is no doubt very imperfectly known, as only 134 land-birds are recorded from it. Of these twenty-two are peculiar species, a number that would probably be diminished were the Corea to be explored. Of the genera, only nine are Indo-Malayan, while forty-three are Palæarctic.
Plate III.—Scene on the Borders of North-West China and Mongolia with Characteristic Mammalia and Birds.—The mountainous districts of Northern China, with the adjacent portions of Thibet and Mongolia, are the head-quarters of the pheasant tribe, many of the most beautiful and remarkable species being found there only. In the north-western provinces of China and the southern parts of Mongolia may be found the species figured. That in the foreground is the superb golden pheasant (Thaumalea picta), a bird that can hardly be surpassed for splendour of plumage by any denizen of the tropics. The large bird perched above is the eared pheasant (Crossoptilon auritum), a species of comparatively sober plumage but of remarkable and elegant form. In the middle distance is Pallas's sand grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), a curious bird, whose native country seems to be the high plains of Northern Asia, but which often abounds near Pekin, and in 1863 astonished European ornithologists by appearing in considerable numbers in Central and Western Europe, in every part of Great Britain, and even in Ireland.
Plate III.
CHARACTERISTIC ANIMALS OF NORTH CHINA.