Physical geography. By Mary Somerville ...

436 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. CHAP. XXXI
birds in existence. Even in Java and Sumatra, though most similai
to India in their winged inhabitants, there are many peculiar, espe.
cially 12 or 13 species of the climbing tribe, and several of the
honey-sucking kind; but the dissimilarity increases with the dis.
tance, as in New Guinea and its islands, where the honey-sucking
genera are developed in novel forms and sumptuous plumage.
About 35 genera are peculiar to India: 32 genera, with all their
numerous species, are found only in the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and several of these are limited to one or two islands. There
are the Cassicans, which resemble jays, with plumage of metallic
lustre; the only two species of Pirolls, one bright violet, the other
of brilliant green; various species of Buceros with large horned
beaks, Orioles of vivid colours, the Swallow that builds the edible
nest, the numerous and splendid Sylvias, and all the species except
one of the Philedons or honey-sucking birds with tongues terminating in a brush. Birds of Paradise of many kinds inhabit New
Guinea and the neighbouring Moluccas and Aroo Islands. They
are birds of passage, and change their quarters with the monsoon.
The King or Royal Bird of Paradise has two long slender filaments
from the tail, ending in a curled flat web of emerald green, and the
male of the green species has long flowing plumes from the sides
of his body, which give him a magnificent appearance. The pigeons
are peculiarly beautiful and numerous, but limited in their abode.
The Goura, or great crowned pigeon, the largest of its tribe, is an
inhabitant of Borneo. Each island has its own species of Lories;
many Paroquets and Cockatoos, Couroucous or Trogons, Coucals,
and the Barbu, with huge beaks, are peculiar to these islands. Even
the partridges have thrown aside their grave colours and assumed
the vivid hues of the tropics, as the green and tufted Cryptonyx.
But the other gallinaceous birds far surpass them in beauty, as the
Argus pheasant and two or three species still more splendid, with a
host of others, which Europeans have never seen in their wild state,
in the deep jungles and impenetrable forests of these unexplored
islands. The Cassowary, a bird akin to the ostrich, without the
power of flying, but fleet in its course, has a wide range in the Indian Archipelago and the south-eastern peninsula of Asia, and,
though destitute of beauty, is interesting from its peculiar location
and the character of the whole race.
AFRICAN BIRDS.
A great number of European birds are also inhabitants of Africa,
and many migrate there in winter, yet the birds of this continent
are very peculiar and characteristic; those in the north and northeast, and at the Cape of Good Hope, are best knowvn, the greater
part of tropical Africa being still unexplored by the naturalist. It