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
Bird Geographical Distributions
Sclater demonstrated that the surface of the globe exhibited six great divisions, each of which differed in a marked manner from all the rest, though the difference was not always equally important. These divisions, which he called Regions, are as follows: Palaearctic, Ethiopian, Indian, Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical.
For upwards of twenty-five years most writers on the subject accepted this classification with little change, though the conviction slowly gained ground that the distinction between the fauna of the northern portions of the Old and New Worlds was not as pronounced as had been thought.
In 1893 Dr. J. A. Allen proposed a new classification, denominating the divisions of the first rank Realms, while those of second rank were called Regions, those of the third rank Provinces, of the fourth rank Subprovinces or Districts, and those of fifth rank Faunas. He recognized seven Realms: Arctic, North Temperate, American Tropical, Indo-African, South American Temperate, Australian, and Lemurian.
In the same year Professor Alfred Newton proposed an arrangement which retained the number of Regions recognized by Sclater, but their outlines were very different. They are as follows: New Zealand, Australian, Neotropical, Holarctic, Ethiopian, and Indian, and while in some respects it seems somewhat less logical than Dr. Allen's, it is more conveniently followed here.
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