CHAPTER XIV.
T H E N A TU RAL H IS TO R Y OP TH E TIMOR GROUP.
J F we look at a map of the Archipelago, nothing seems
more unlikely than that the closely connected chain of
islands from Java to Timor should differ materially in their
natural productions. There are, it is true, certain differences
of climate and of physical geography, hut these do
not correspond with the division the naturalist is obliged to
make. Between the two ends of the chain there is a great
contrast of climate, the west being exceedingly moist and
having only a short and irregular dry season, the east being
as dry and parched up, and having but a short wet season.
This change, however, occurs about the middle of Java, the
eastern portion of that island having as strongly marked
seasons as Lombock and Timor. There is also a difference
in physical geography; hut this occurs at the eastern termination
of the chain, where the volcanoes which are the
marked feature of Java, Bali, Lombock, Sumbawa, and
Flores, turn northwards through Gunong Api to Banda,
leaving Timor with only one volcanic peak near its centre ;
while the main portion of the island consists of old sedimentary
rocks. Neither of these physical differences corresponds
with the remarkable change in natural productions
which occurs at the Straits of Lombock, separating
the island of that name from Bali; and which is at once
so large in amount and of so fundamental a character, as
to form an important feature in the zoological geography
of our globe.
The Dutch naturalist Zollinger, who resided a long time
in the island of Bali, informs us that its productions completely
assimilate with those of Java, and that he is not
aware of a single animal found in it which does not inhabit
the larger island. During the few days which I
stayed on the north coast of Bali on my way to Lombock,
I saw several birds highly characteristic of Javan ornithology.
Among these were the yellow-headed weaver
(Ploceus hypoxantha), the black grasshopper thrush
(Copsychus amcenus), the rosy barbet (Megabema rosea),
the Malay oriole (Oriolus horsfieldi), the Java ground
starling (Sturnopastor jalla), and the Javanese three-toed
woodpecker (Chrysonotus tiga). On crossing over to
Lombock, separated from Bali by a strait less than twenty
miles wide, I naturally expected to meet with some of
these birds again ; but during a stay there of three months
I never saw one of them, but found a totally different set
of species, most of which were utterly unknown not only in