xxvi IKTEODTJCTION.
Himalayas, Assam, Burmah, Arakan, Tenasserim, and Siam. How far thoy extend into China
or the interior of Burmali is unknown; bnt it is most probable, as suggested by mi l a e e, that
they will be found ivherover the great forests may reach in that direction. Throughout the
Indo-Malayan subregion they are pretty generally distributed, espeeially in the Malay peninsula
and the great islands adjacent to It. To pass rapidly in review the ranges of the Tarious
species accepted as such in this Monograph, we Ind that in the Indian suhregion we meet
A. jiAlABAElctis at the base of the north-east Himalayas; and the species extends eastward
along the ehain into the Indo-Chinese subregion, throughout Kepal, Assam,'and Burmah, and
southward through British Bnrmah. It is not found in the Indian peninsula, that I am aware.
Another species, L. IIEOSTRIS, is distributed generally throughoxit India, not found in Assam,
and nercr to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal. A thii-d, D. BIOOKXH, has an CTen wider
distribution than either of the above, being met with in the hill-torests of all India, through British
Burmah, and in the Malay peninsula and Sumatra of the Indo-Malayan suhregion. Three
other species are found in the Indian peninsula—A. COJIOSATOS, T. smsEus, and T. SIXGALESSIS.
The first and last of these extend southward through the Ceylonese subregion. Passing to the
north-east into the Indo-Chinese subregion (besides A. MALABAUlcns, already mentioned) we
find the south-eastern Himalayas are inhabited by the fine A. SEPALBSSIS, which ranges through
Assam and the Tenasserim provinces, where also A. TICKBLLI has been procured. In Cochin
China A. PKATEllcnMS has been obtained; but its exact dispersion is not known. Entermg
now the Indo-Malayan division of the Oriental Eegion, we find the Malayan peninsula tenanted
by various spceies, the majority of which also inhabit the neighbouring islands. They are
B . MIEOCEAOS, II. VIGII, A. MALAYASTIS, A. COMATOS, E. MNULAIL'S, and A. GALEMIUS. AU
these arc also natives of Sumatra and Borneo, execpt A. C03IATUS, which is not found cast of
Sumatra, and E. uNi.UL.vrra, which is not met with beyond Java. The last-named island also
contains two species, B. sxlYEsrals and A. COXVEXUS, the first peculiar to itself, the latter also
found, according to Sehlcgel, in Sumatra and Borneo. The last two islands also possess one
spceies not found elsewhere, C. OOIUIUGATUS. The remainmg portions of the division that have
any spccics of this family are the Philippines and Narcondam Island. The first possesses nme
s p c e i e s , vi». 11. PLASICOLFFLLS, H . HISDANENSIS, II. SEMOALEATUS, C. LEUOOCEINALUS, P. PANIJ,!.
P „ANILINE, p. AEPims, C. w,u.0E!,-l, and L. M0XT.AM. Narcondam Island coutams E. NAUCOSD
UII. Should, however, this eventually be considered only a local race of E. PLICATUS,
mentioned below, then it would extend the range of that species, as Narcondam Island lies
further to the westward than any recorded habitat of E. plic.VTUs.
In the Australian Eegion the Hornbills are confined entirely to Celebes and the Molnccan
and Papuan groups of the Austro-Malayan division, where but four species of the family arc
met with, one, however, having a very extensive dispersion. Beginning with the most western
island of this division, save the one given above, it is found that Celebes possesses two spceies.
n EXAKHAPA and C. OASSlDtx; and neither of them is met with in any other locality. The
Moluccas contain E. PEIOATUS, ranging from Mysol, New Guinea, to the Solomon Islands,
these forming the extreme eastern limit that any species of this family reaches.
INTEODHCTION. -^xvii
From the foregoing review of the dispersion of the various species of the nornbills it will
bo perceived that the BUOEEOTIBJE are pretty equally divided at the present day between the
Ethiopian and Oriental Kegions. the first having twenty-seven and the latter twenty-nine spceies.
while but a few, apparently the remaining representatives of a numerous race, are scattered
about the islands of the Malay archipelago. 'Wallace has so thoroughly exhibited the probable
way in which the great Australian continent has been broken up and left in the condition we
now see it, and, at a similar period, how the Asiatic continent extended its limit until it
almost reaehcd its great southern neighbour, that it will be quite unnecessary to discuss the
subject here; but unquestionably, during the convulsions of earth and sea, with the rising and
falling land, the BucEPOPin/E. like many other great families of birds, have become widely
scattered from the original continent whieh was once their home. Species have become separated
from each other; some that may have been local in their habitat have disappeared altogether, or
else are found today inhabiting one island only, such as those now living upon Celebes. Java,
and certain of the Philippine Islands; while others that were widely dispersed over the old
continent are now met with in many of the islands of the archipelago. In both the Oriental
and Ethiopian Eegions the range of many species appears arbitrarily drawn, and is inexplicable
to us; but our difdculty may arise, in a measure at least, on the African continent, from our
lack of knowledge of the fauna of the interior of that great land; for many of the spccics we
now regard as restricted in their habitat may in reality have a wide dispersion. The same
remai-k will apply to certain divisions of the Oriental Eegion; for we know nothing of the extent
of range or number of spccics of this family beyond the north-eastern portion of the Indian
subregion. How many may inhabit the unknown forests stretching away to the northward, or
how far these birds may penetrate into the Paliearctie Eegion, or even to what degree, if at all,
the family may he represented there, has not yet been ascertained. We can only rely upon
future research for a solution of the problem. At present our knowledge simply points out to
us that the " geographical distribution of the Hornbills seems quite in aecordanee with the
almost universal belief of modern naturalists, that the present position of every living thing
upon the earth is the result of that long and eomplieated scries of geological changes and
organic modifications which the globe has ever been and still is undergoing."
The following list gives, in a eondcnsed form, the geographical distribution of the genera
and species of the BucEiioproji:—
1 . BUCOEVUS.
Mange of the Gems.
Ethiopian Eegion.
Mange of the Species.
1. Biieormis ahgssinicus. East Africa; Abyssinia and Sennaar.
2. Biicorvus pjrrhops. Gaboon.
3. Jlueorms cafer. Angola; Damaraland; Calfraria.