stated in th e foregomg pages. Professor Hn d f 1 T ' “ ''“» '‘’‘to any o f th e facts
and a southern division o f the globe instead o f ' " S ’“ recognizing a northern
e a rth into four regions, viz ■ 1 A rc to n J » e divides the
Zealand. T h e s e d f v i s io l s L e e h i e ^ T e L re 3. Au stralasia; 4. N e w
Huxley was a t th a t time discussing- b u t i t m-iv 1 f ^ ^ ‘’‘ toromorphce, which Professor
distribution o f Kingfishers by th e lig h t o f th is o a u e
regions above indicated. “ “ umides with the
p ro p o s e d b r D r , ‘ M l t r n f p r t r L T ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ T u “ " ’ . ' “ ’ “ ’ “ ’ “ S '''■bdivisions
stated ab o u t th e geographical distribution o f T r f i! ™ regai-ding what I have
th e n o rth e rn lim it o f Austro-Columbia H .»™' . i^otogasa the line th a t marks
would be drawn to mark th e ranoo o f tb™ ° ^ '“’I“ '“ '’'“ *>= ‘“ e o f demai-cation th a t
South Am eric a; soT h u thTt o . S n r t to
find th e geogr-aphica, d i s I l n ^ r K “ r e i l ^ " “ ' T “ f ^
tb-awn for his thir-d region, o f A u s t r a l a s i i f„,- b- i- ™
Nicobai-s, th en southward round th e Indo-Malavan" i l “ V T u “ cludmg the
Straits o f Macassar, and cuts off t h e P h - J - - ' / ’ follows Wallace’s line u p the
this p o in t th a t the 1 » r ^ d n o f Indo-Malayan subregion. I t l „n
tfie species in habiting t e P h f c t f j r ™ » Professor Huxley’s scheme; for all
Beyond this, however th e i j - Indian form,
fessor H u x ley ’s idea o f distribution T b ’* f coincides with Proway
or th e other. O ^ y " ^ i re 7 T "ff““*'“’ ““ “
Halcyon sancta; and i t has L S t u l n b t T m ^ A “ “ '“ ” “
from th e Austra l “n I n t i n “ t ^nd I i
conditions o f life, assumed a larg er size b u t leTs te iu L t T r “ ' ’
th e case with o th er birds. b n llia n t coloration, as seems to have been
CONCLUDING HEJLVEKS
x c :^ r r q : : : t r r
Arrangement o f B ird s ” in which hp rnTv; f ft, ‘ ‘ ® P^pe^'on the “ Natura l
“ From an examination o f th e sti-uctiire o f the feet and to e , and from a consideration of
i i i l
th eir habits, we are led to consider th a t the Hornbills are Fissirostral birds, though o f a
very abnormal form. Th eir very short legs and united toes, with a broad flat sole, are
exactly similar to those o f the Kingfishers. They have powerful w in g s; b u t th e ir heavy
bodies oblige them to use much exertion in flight, which is therefore not very rapid, th ough
often extended to considerable distances. They are (in the In d ian Archipelago a t least)
entirely frugivorous; and i t is curious to observe how th eir stm ctu re modifies th eir mode of
feeding. They are far too heavy to d a rt after the fruit, in the manner of the Trogons; they
cannot even fly quickly from branch to branch, picking a fru it hei'e and th e r e ; n eith er have
they strength or agility enough to venture on the more slender branches, with th e Pigeons
and B a rb e ts ; b u t they a light heavily on a branch o f considerable thickness, and then, looking
cautiously round them, pick off any fruits th a t may be Tvithin th e ir reach, and je rk them
down th eir throats by a motion similar to th a t used by the Toucans, and which has been
erroneously described as throwing the fru it up in th e a ir before swallowing it. W h en they
have gathered all within th eir reach they move sideways along the branch by short jumps,
or, rather, a kind of shuffle (and the smaller species even hop across to other branches), when
they again g ath e r what is within th eir reach. W h en in this way they have progressed as
far as the bough will safely carry them, they take a flight to another p a rt o f the ti-ee, where
they pursue the same course. I t thus happens th a t they soon exhaust all the fru it within
th eir reach, and long after they have left a tree the Barbets and Eurylaimi find abundance
o f food on the slender branches and extreme twigs. W e see therefore th a t th eir very short
legs and syndactyle feet remove them completely from the vicinity o f the Toucans, in which
the legs are actively employed in moving about after their food. Their wings, too, are as
powerful as those of the Toucans are w e a k ; and i t is only the great weight o f th eir bodies
th a t prevents them from being capable o f rapid and extensive flight. As it is, th eir strength
of wing is shown, too, by th e great force with which they beat the air, producing a sound,
in the lai-ger species, which can be distinctly heard a mile off, and is even louder th an th at
made by the flight o f the great Muscovy Duck. They are still fu rth e r removed from the
Crows, with which they have also been very generally associated solely because they are
Conirostres,-or conic-beaked!—another instance o f tbe extremely erroneous results which are
arrived at by a dependence on a single character, and especially on one which so little
influences the hahits of a bird as the external form o f its bill.
“ The preceding deductions fr-om the habits o f these birds had been made before I became
aware th a t Mr. Eyton had arrived a t similar results from anatomical considerations a lo n e ;
and I had great pleasure in finding th a t there was such solid support for the opinion which
I had formed entirely from my own observations. The only question th a t remains th en is,
To what family o f the Fissirostres do they most nearly approach t A careful consideration
leads us to fix upon the Kingfisliers. They are among the largest birds in th e g ro u p ; they
have th e largest bills ; and in the structure o f the feet the two are almost identical.
“ The Hornbills of A frica ai-e said to feed principally on reptiles, as do th e Kinghuiiters
{Dacelo) o f Australia. W e look upon Hornbills therefore as one of th e abnoi-mal developments
of Fissirostral birds, o f which they are th e largest, the least elegant, and the least
. / 2