Birds and Nature Vol. 09 No. 2 [February 1901]Various
History
Birds and Nature Vol. 09 No. 2 [February 1901]
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
as the name implies, includes all of North America, Europe, Asia north
of India, and the Himalaya mountains, northern Africa where the great
Sahara forms the natural boundary, and all islands belonging to the
north temperate and north frigid zones. Many have divided this great
belt into Palearctic and Nearctic, but the intermingling of species
between northeast Siberia and Alaska seems to make such a distinction
impracticable. But these distinctions should be and are retained in the
divisions of the Holarctic. When we understand that at least one-third
of the species found in the Nearctic are also found in the Palearctic,
we shall understand why these two are grouped under one region. There
are no orders, and there seem to be no families which are found in the
Holarctic and nowhere else. Indeed, it is difficult to find even genera
which do not have some species ranging into the Neotropical, Ethiopian
or Indian. But among the species we find many. Indeed, there are few
species which nest in both the Holarctic and in the regions bounding it
on the south, and many of these are found only on the southern
boundaries of the Holarctic. In our part of the Holarctic, that is, the
Nearctic, the familiar birds about us do not nest also in the tropical
regions.
THE ETHIOPIAN REGION,
as the name suggests, includes the whole of Africa except that portion
north of the Sahara desert, and Arabia and Egypt, with Madagascar and
other islands in the immediate vicinity. It seems hardly necessary to
even mention the forms that are peculiar to this peculiar region. Even
the word Africa brings trooping to our minds a whole continent of
peculiarities in more realms than one. Here we find the Ostrich, the
plantain eaters, the colies and several, other families—nine in all. Of
the lower groups there are the rollers, bee-eaters, horn-bills, the
curious secretary-bird and many others. It is significant that among the
Passerine birds there are but three families that are peculiar. So on
the whole, this region has not developed so rapidly as the Holarctic.
There has not been the intense struggle for supremacy here which we see
in the north temperate and higher regions.
THE INDIAN REGION
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