Europe and extended westward to the shores of the Atlantic, while some even reached Ireland and the Faroes. (Plate III. Vol. I. p. 226.) FAMILY 87.-TETRAONIDE. (29 Genera, 170 Species.) NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN 2.3.4 1.2.3.4 1.2. 3.4 1.2 3.4 1.2 3.4 1.2 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. They have developed into forms equally suited to the tropical plains and the arctic regions, some of them being among the few denizens of the extreme north, as well as of the highest alpine snows. The genera are somewhat unsettled, and there is even some uncertainty as to the limits between this family and the next; but the following are those now generally admitted :— Ptilopachus (1 sp.), West Africa; Francolinus (34 sp.), all Africa, South Europe, India to Ceylon, and South China; Ortygornis (3 sp.), Himalayas to Ceylon, Sumatra, and Borneo: Peliperdix (1 sp.), West Africa; Perdix (3 sp.), the whole Continental Palearctic region; Margaroperdix (1 sp.), Madagascar; Oreoperdix (1 sp.), Formosa; Arborophila (8 sp.), the Oriental Continent and the Philippines; Peloperdix (4 sp.), Tenasserim and Malaya; Coturnix (21 sp.), Temperate Palæarctic, Ethiopian and Oriental regions, and the Australian to New Zealand; Rollulus (2 sp.), Siam to Sumatra, Borneo, and Philippines; Caloperdix (1 sp.), Malacca and Sumatra; Odontophorus (17 sp.), Brazil and Peru to Mexico; Dendrortyx (3 sp.), Guatemala and Mexico; Cyrtonyx (3 sp.), Guatemala to New Mexico; Ortyx (8 sp.), Honduras and Cuba to Canada; Eupsychortyx (6 sp.), Brazil and Ecuador to Mexico; Callipepla (3 sp.), Mexico to California; Lophortyx (2 sp.), Arizona and California; Oreortyx (1 sp.), California and Oregon (Plate XVIII., Vol. II. p. 128); Lerwa (1 sp.), Snowy Himalayas and East Thibet; Caccabis (10 sp.), Palæarctic region to Abyssinia, Arabia and the Punjaub; Tetraogallus (4 sp.), Caucasus and Himalayas to Altai Mountains; Tetrao (7 sp.), northern parts of Palæarctic and Nearctic regions; Centrocercus (1 sp.), Rocky Mountains; Pediocætes (2 sp.), North and North-west America (Plate XVIII. Vol. II. p. 128); Cupidonia (1 sp.), East and North-Central United States and Canada; Bonasa (3 sp.), north of Nearctic and Palearctic regions; Lagopus (6 sp.), Arctic Zone and northern parts of Nearctic and Palearctic regions. FAMILY 88.-PHASIANIDE. (18 Genera, 75 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC 3 2.3 2.3.4 1.2.3.4 1.2.3.4 The Phasianidæ, including the Pea-fowl, Pheasants, and Junglefowl, the Turkeys, and the Guinea-fowl, are very widely distributed, but are far more abundant than elsewhere in the Eastern parts of Asia, both tropical and temperate. Leaving out the African guinea-fowls and the American turkeys, we have 13 genera and 63 species belonging to the Oriental and Palæarctic regions. These are grouped by Mr. Elliot (whose arrangement we mainly follow) in 5 sub-families, of which 3-Pavonniæ, Euplocaminæ, and Gallinæ―are chiefly Oriental, while the Lophophorniæ and Phasianinæ are mostly Palearctic or from the highlands on the borders of the two regions. The genera adopted by Mr. Elliot in his Monograph are the following :— PAVONINE, 4 genera.-Pavo (2 sp.), Himalayas to Ceylon, Siam, to South-west China and Java; Argusianus (4 sp.), Siam, Malay Peninsula, and Borneo (Plate IX. Vol. I. p. 339); Polyplectron (5 sp.), Upper Assam to South-west China and Sumatra ; Crossoptilon (4 sp.), Thibet and North China. (Plate III. Vol. I. p. 226.) LOPHOPHORINÆ, 4 genera.-Lophophorus (3 sp.), High woody region of Himalayas from Cashmere to West China; Tetraophasis (1 sp.), East Thibet; Ceriornis (5 sp.), Highest woody Himalayas from Cashmere to Bhotan and Western China (Plate VII. Vol. I. p. 331); Pucrasia (3 sp.), Lower and High woody Himalayas from the Hindoo Koosh to North-west China. PHASIANINA, 2 genera.-Phasianus (12 sp.), Western Asia to Japan and Formosa, south to near Canton and Yunan, and the Western Himalayas, north to the Altai Mountains; Thaumalea (3 sp.), North-western China and Mongolia. (Plate III. Vol. I. p. 226.) EUPLOCAMINE, 2 genera.-Euplocamus (12 sp.), Cashmere, along Southern Himalayas to Siam, South China and Formosa, and to Sumatra and Borneo; Ithaginis (2 sp.), High Himalayas from Nepal to North-west China. GALLINA, 1 genus.-Gallus (4 sp.), Cashmere to Hainan, Ceylon, Borneo, Java, and eastwards to Celebes and Timor. (Central India, Ceylon, and East Java, have each a distinct species of Jungle-fowl.) MELEAGRINÆ, 1 genus.-Meleagris (3 sp.), Eastern and Central United States and south to Mexico, Guatemala and Yucatan. AGELASTINÆ, 2 genera. - Phasidus (1 sp.), West Africa; Agelastes (1 sp.), West Africa. NUMIDINÆ, 2 genera.—Acryllium (1 sp.), West Africa; Numida (9 sp.), Ethiopian region, east to Madagascar, south to Natal and Great Fish River. FAMILY 89.-TURNICIDE. (2 Genera, 24 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. AUSTRALIAN NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL The Turnicidæ are small Quail-like birds, supposed to have remote affinities with the American Tinamous, and with sufficient distinctive peculiarities to constitute a separate family. They range over the Old World, from Spain all through Africa and Madagascar, and over the whole Oriental region to Formosa, and then north again to Pekin, as well as south-eastward to Australia and Tasmania. The genus Turnix (23 sp.), has the range of the family; Ortyxelos (1 sp.), inhabits Senegal; but the latter genus may not belong to this family. FAMILY 90.-MEGAPODIIDÆ. (4 Genera, 20 Species.) 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 Philippine species offers little difficulty, for these birds are found on the smallest islands and sand-banks, and can evidently pass over a few miles of sea with ease; but the Nicobar bird is a very different case, because none of the numerous intervening islands offer a single example of the family. Instead of being a well-marked and clearly differentiated form, as we should expect to find it if its remote and isolated habitat were due to natural causes, it so nearly resembles some of the closely-allied species of the Moluccas and New Guinea, that, had it been found with them, it would hardly have been thought specifically extinct. I therefore believe that it is probably an introduction by the Malays, and that, owing to the absence of enemies and general suitability of conditions, it has thriven in the islands and has become slightly differentiated in colour from the parent stock. The following is the distribution of the genera at present known : Talegallus (2 sp.), New Guinea and East Australia; Megacephalon (1 sp.), East Celebes; Lipoa (1 sp.), South Australia; Megapodius (16 sp.), Philippine Islands and Celebes, to Timor, North Australia, New Caledonia, the Marian and Samoa Islands, and probably every intervening island,—also a species (doubtfully indigenous) in the Nicobar Islands. FAMILY 91.-CRACIDE. (12 Genera, 53 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN (Messrs. Sclater and Salvin's arrangement is here followed). The Cracidæ, or Curassows and Guans, comprise the largest and handsomest game-birds of the Neotropical region, where they take the place of the grouse and pheasants of the Old World. They are almost all forest-dwellers, and are a strictly Neotropical family, only one species just entering the Nearctic region as far as New Mexico. They extend southward to Paraguay and the extreme south of Brazil, but none are found in the |