10 Africa, Prince's Is., St. Thomé S. Palæar., Orien, Austral.

3 W. Africa to Abys. & Mauritius Oriental

10 Africa, Madagascar, Comoro and Palearctic, Oriental.

Peculiar or very Characteristic Genera of Wading or Swimming Birds.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ORIENTAL REGION.

THIS region is of comparatively small extent, but it has a very diversified surface, and is proportionately very rich. The deserts on the north-west of India are the debatable land that separates it from the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions. The great triangular plateau which forms the peninsula of India is the poorest portion of the region, owing in part to its arid climate and in part to its isolated position; for there can be little doubt that in the later Tertiary period it was an island, separated by an arm of the sea (now forming the valleys of the Ganges and Indus) from the luxuriant Himalayan and Burmese countries. Its southern extremity, with Ceylon, has a moister climate and more luxuriant vegetation, and exhibits indications of a former extension southwards, with a richer and more peculiar fauna, partly Malayan and partly Mascarene in its character. The whole southern slopes of the Himalayas, with Burmah, Siam,and Western China, as well as the Malay peninsula and the IndoMalay islands, are almost everywhere covered with tropical forests of the most luxuriant character, which abound in varied and peculiar forms of vegetable and animal life. The flora and fauna of this extensive district are essentially of one type throughout; yet it may be usefully divided into the IndoChinese and the Malayan sub-regions, as each possesses a number of peculiar or characteristic animals. The former subregion, besides having many tropical and sub-tropical types of its own, also possesses a large number of peculiarly modified temperate forms on the mountain ranges of its northern