The History of the European Fauna

by R. F. Scharff

The so-called Irish Elk (Cervus giganteus) has been referred to the Oriental migration, but, as stated below, it has some claims to be regarded as a European. Unfortunately it is now extinct; it seems not unlikely, however, that it inhabited Ireland when man had already made his appearance on the island. Although its remains are found in such extraordinary abundance in Ireland, it certainly did not originate there. It lived also in England and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, in France, Denmark, Germany, Austria, North Italy, and Russia. Its remains have been discovered even in Siberia. It must either have originated in Europe and then migrated to Asia, or have had its birthplace in Asia and wandered to Europe. There is nothing to lead any one to assert positively that either of these two continents was the one in which the original home of the Irish Elk was situated, and we can only be guided in this case by the history of its nearest relatives. These are the Fallow Deer (Cervus dama). There are two very closely allied species, the Persian and the European, but several others have been discovered in the Forest-Bed and the pliocene deposits of the Auvergne. As no remains of the Fallow Deer are known from Asia, it seems probable that it and also the Irish Elk originated in Southern Europe, and only invaded Asia in early pleistocene times.

The Mammoth (Elephas primigenius) is a familiar example among a large number of mammals which have come to us about the same time from Asia by the Asia Minor route. It had a much wider range than the Irish Elk, since its remains have been discovered in a large number of European localities as far west as Ireland, also in Siberia, and even North America. Though we have had Proboscidea in Europe from the Middle Miocene onwards, Mr. Lydekker (d, p. viii.) holds that "our comparatively full knowledge of Lower Miocene and Upper Eocene mammalian faunas of the greater part of Europe and North America, renders it almost certain that neither of those regions was the home of the direct ancestors of the Elephantidæ; and we must therefore look forward to the discovery of mammaliferous Lower Miocene or Upper Eocene strata in some other region of the (probably old) world which may yield these missing forms."

The genus Elephas makes its first appearance in the Upper Miocene of India. Our European E. antiquus is, according to Professor Zittel, probably identical with E. armeniacus of Asia Minor, while E. meridionalis agrees in all essential characters with the Indian E. hysudricus. The Indian and European species of fossil elephants altogether are very closely related, and the supposition that they all have had their original home in the Oriental Region offers, I think, no serious obstacle. The view of the European origin of the mammoth especially is open to very serious objections. It does not occur in any European pliocene deposits, and could not therefore have originated in our Continent until pleistocene times. That it should then have commenced its travels through Europe and Siberia to the New Siberian Islands and North America seems almost an impossibility. But if we suppose the mammoth to have had its home in India in pliocene times, it could then easily have migrated to all the parts of the world where its remains have been discovered.

Of the Asiatic mammals still living, some have only just crossed the borders of Europe and then died out again. Similar cases have been referred to in discussing the Siberian migration. Thus remains of the camel have been found in Roumania and in Southern Russia in pleistocene deposits. Others have lingered on to the present day. Crocidura etrusca, for instance, still lives in Southern France, Italy, Sicily, and North-western Africa. All its nearest relations are typically Oriental species. In spite of the fact that a Crocidura is known from French and German miocene deposits, the general range of the genus suggests an Oriental origin. In early Tertiary times a section spread into African territory and another eastward as far as the island of Timor. This may possibly have happened in miocene times, when a few species likewise found their way into Europe. Many other mammals have wandered still farther west, and now form an important percentage of the European fauna.

Of Birds, too, a large number might be mentioned which had their home in Asia and have found their way to Europe with the Oriental migrants. A few instances have already been alluded to, and some additional ones may be specified at random, without attempting to give a complete list.

Some of the Wagtails (Motacilla), as I mentioned in the last chapter, have certainly come to us with the Siberian migration; but others seem to be Oriental, such as Motacilla melanope, which is resident in Southern Europe and migratory in the North. M. campestris—the Yellow Wagtail—has a most peculiar discontinuous range. One colony breeds in the British Isles and Western Europe generally, where it is known as a summer visitor, retiring to West Africa during winter; another is found from South-east Russia to Turkestan in summer, and winters in Southern Africa. This fact may possibly be due to two distinct migrations from Asia having taken place: an earlier one from the South-east—that is to say, an Oriental one—and a Siberian one more recently. In this case the members of the two migrations have not become sufficiently differentiated to be regarded as distinct varieties. Though most of the Wagtails have a somewhat northern range, none (except perhaps M. borealis) are truly Arctic; and indeed, as almost all of them pass the winter in southern latitudes, it may be assumed that they are of southern and not of northern origin.

The Dippers (Cinclus) are practically unknown in the Central European plain, but they occur in Western Europe as far north as Scandinavia, also in the Alps, Carpathians, and Southern Europe, including Sicily and Sardinia. Some authorities distinguish three species, others only one. As a matter of fact, the difference between the three forms is very slight, and their nests and eggs are undistinguishable. Eight other species have been recognised, and all these are either Asiatic or American. As one of the American forms is peculiar to Peru and another to Ecuador and Columbia, and since the genus as a whole is a mountain-genus, it probably is an ancient one. Its European range alone, however, implies that it has inhabited our continent for a considerable time and is no new-comer. We may look upon it as of Asiatic origin. The ancestors have spread east and west, the European species having arrived with the earlier Oriental migrants, and wandered along the Mediterranean at a time when the geographical conditions of that sea were vastly different from what they are to-day.

Not quite so ancient as the Dippers, but likewise Asiatic in their origin, are the Bullfinches (Pyrrhula). The closely allied Pine-Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) has already been referred to (p. [191]) as a member of the Siberian migration. The distribution of the European Bullfinch (P. europæa) is very interesting, as it occurs in two distinct forms, by some authorities regarded as races, by others as species. In all probability these two races owe their origin to two different migrations from the same ancestral stock. We may suppose that P. europæa came to Europe along with the Oriental migration, spreading chiefly over the south and west, while another branch developed in Siberia into the larger and more brilliant race (P. major), which subsequently entered the neighbouring continent with the Siberian fauna. The latter race inhabits, according to Mr. Saunders, Northern and Eastern Europe, and also Siberia. All the other species—there are eight more—except one, are found in Asia. This one species, which inhabits the Azores, appears to be more closely related to one of the Siberian bullfinches than to the European. It stands isolated, and is an extraordinary instance of discontinuous distribution, as no Bullfinch inhabits either Madeira or the Canary Islands. We must assume that the form connecting it with the Asiatic probably lived in Southern Europe, and has become extinct.

One of the most typically Oriental genera of birds is Phasianus, to which our Common Pheasant belongs. Out of twenty species, nineteen are found exclusively in Asia, most of them being confined to the central plateaux of that continent. Only one species passes the confines of Asia into Greece, Turkey, and Southern Russia. This is Phasianus colchicus. Formerly, however, the Pheasant appears to have had a wider range in Europe, for three species are known fossil from France. Altogether, it is not quite certain whether the Pheasant is not really an indigenous bird in the British Islands, having survived from pre-glacial times. It is believed that the Romans brought it to England, but there is no record of an introduction at that time.

Among the older Oriental bird migrants might be mentioned the Fire-crested Wren (Regulus ignicapillus), which has even occasionally visited England. It becomes commoner as we go south-eastward. In Asia Minor it is more abundant than the Gold-crest; and throughout the year it is resident in Southern Europe, where it occurs in Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sardinia, and Malta. On the opposite shore, in North-west Africa, it again makes its appearance, and its range extends westward to the Canaries (R. teneriffæ) and Madeira (R. maderensis).