comparatively unknown islands of the Moluccas as indicating a fauna of fully
average richness in this department. But when we come to examine the family
groups which go to make up this number, we find the most curious deficiencies
in some, balanced by equally striking redundancy in other. Thus if we compare
the birds of the Moluccas with those of India, as given in Mr. Jerdon's work, we
find that the three groups of the parrots, kingfishers, and pigeons, form nearly
one-third of the whole land-birds in the former, while they amount to only one-
twentieth in the latter country. On the other hand, such wide-spread groups as the
thrushes, warblers, and finches, which in India form nearly one-third of all the
land-birds, dwindle down in the Moluccas to one-fourteenth.
The reason of these peculiarities appears to be, that the Moluccan fauna has
been almost entirely derived from that of New Guinea, in which country the
same deficiency and the same luxuriance is to be observed. Out of the seventy-
eight genera in which the Moluccan land-birds may be classed, no less than
seventy are characteristic of Yew Guinea, while only six belong specially to the
Indo-Malay islands. But this close resemblance to New Guinea genera does not
extend to the species, for no less than 140 out of the 195 land-birds are peculiar
to the Moluccan islands, while 32 are found also in New Guinea, and 15 in the
Indo-Malay islands. These facts teach us, that though the birds of this group
have evidently been derived mainly from New Guinea, yet the immigration has
not been a recent one, since there has been time for the greater portion of the
species to have become changed. We find, also, that many very characteristic
New Guinea forms lave not entered the Moluccas at all, while others found in
Ceram and Gilolo do not extend so far west as Bouru. Considering, further, the
absence of most of the New Guinea mammals from the Moluccas, we are led to
the conclusion that these islands are not fragments which have been separated
from New Guinea, but form a distinct insular region, which has been upheaved
independently at a rather remote epoch, and during all the mutations it has
undergone has been constantly receiving immigrants from that great and
productive island. The considerable length of time the Moluccas have remained
isolated is further indicated by the occurrence of two peculiar genera of birds,
Semioptera and Lycocorax, which are found nowhere else.
We are able to divide this small archipelago into two well marked groups—
that of Ceram, including also Bouru. Amboyna, Banda, and Ke; and that of
Gilolo, including Morty, Batchian, Obi, Ternate, and other small islands. These
divisions have each a considerable number of peculiar species, no less than fifty-
five being found in the Ceram group only; and besides this, most of the separate
islands have some species peculiar to themselves. Thus Morty island has a