ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS
The Australian Region
This Region, says Newton,”has but little connection with New Zealand and is as trenchantly divided from the Indian, which geographically, and possibly geologically, seems to be conterminous with it, by the narrow but deep channel that separates the small islands of Bali and Lombok, and will be found to determine the boundary between these two distinct Regions.”Starting with an imaginary line between these two islands, we may trace it northeasterly, passing between Borneo and Celebes, and between the Philippines and the Pelew group. Thence the line proceeds northward to the vicinity of the Tropic of Cancer, and then eastward somewhat indefinitely so as to include the Hawaiian Islands, though these are perhaps more North American, but to include all of which is commonly called Polynesia, and return so as to encompass the New Caledonian Islands and of course Australia proper as well as Tasmania.
Without going as extensively into the subject as is really warranted, it may be stated that the Australian Region is the exclusive home of the order Casuarii-formes, comprising the Cassowaries and Emeus, the superfamily Pseudoseines, which embraces the families Menuridoe (Lyre-birds) and Atrichomithidm (Scrub-birds), and the families Rhinochetidce (Kagu), Didunculidce (Tooth-billed Pigeons), Loriidee (Lories), Paradiseidce (Paradise-birds), and Ptilonorhynchidm (Bower-birds). In addition to these the following families are almost peculiar: Meli-phagidce (Honey-suckers), Campephagida (Cuckoo Shrikes), Artamidce (Wood-Swallows), Cacatuida (Cockatoos), and Megapodidtz (Mound-builders). As it is oftentimes nearly or quite as important to note the groups that are wanting in an area as it is to determine those which are present, it may be noted that the Australian Region lacks the families Vulturida (Vultures), Phasianidce (Pheasants), and PycnonotidcB (Bulbuls), to which should perhaps be added the Fringilli-da (True Finches), though the exact relationship of the so-called Australian Finches can hardly be considered as settled. The Picida: (Woodpeckers) are practically absent, as hardly half a dozen species cross the line into Lombok, Celebes, or the Moluccas, but do not occur elsewhere.
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