ENON Caos

 

Tue halo of romance which for nearly a century has centred round New Guinea and its animals does not
get dimmed as time speeds on: indeed it shines more brightly than ever, and all naturalists who have
travelled in the Moluccas have either paid a visit to that wonderful island or are looking forward to the
time when they will be able to land upon its shores. Mr. Gould was perfectly right when he alluded to
the Birds of Paradise as being one of the most remarkable families of birds inhabiting the Papuan Sub-
region, and their presence alone is sufficient to warrant our recognition of a zoological area distinct from that
of the neighbouring Australian region. That there is a considerable affinity between the avifauna of Northern
Australia and New Guinea is proved by the presence of a Cassowary in Queensland and of a Malurus
in New Guinea; and this relationship is further accentuated by the presence in both subregions of such
genera as Ptilorhis, Microglossum, Tanysiptera, and a large number of species of Meliphagide. Of the
Lipotypes, or forms of birds conspicuous by their absence, in the Papuan and Australian Subregions,
perhaps the non-appearance of any species of Woodpecker is the most remarkable.

No other country has produced in recent times more novelties in the way of birds than New Guinea,
and every fresh expedition to the mountains of the interior appears to add to the number. Travellers of
many nationalities have contributed to the disclosure of the hidden ornithological treasures which have been
described during the last thirty years, as will be seen by the following brief resumé of the history of the
subject.

In 1858, Dr. Sclater published, in the ‘ Proceedings ’ of the Linnean Society of London, a paper on the
zoology of New Guinea. After visiting the museums of Paris and Leyden, and personally examining the
specimens which they contained from this part of the world, he drew up a list of animals and birds known
as inhabitants of the island, and he computed that of the former 10 species had been obtained, and of birds
170 species. The present extent of the described mammalian fauna I have no means of judging ; but in
1865, Dr. Finsch, in his ‘ Neu-Guinea,’ estimated the number of Mammalia at 15, and the birds at 252.
Of course, as Count Salvadori’s work deals with the ornithology of the Moluccas as well, no exact comparison
of the avifauna of New Guinea, as known in 1858 and as at present known in 1888, is presented; bat, as will
be seen below, the various expeditions which have taken place have added enormously to the number of
species, and we cannot suppose tbat the limit of our knowledge has yet been reached.

The area embraced by Count Salvadori’s ‘ Ornitologia della Papuasia’ is much the same as that admitted
by Mr. Gould when he commenced the present book, as the few species from Australia which he included
were only figured as a further Supplement to his ‘ Birds of Australia.’ It may be remarked, however, that
- of the 1030 species enumerated by Count Salvadori, only 300 have been figured in the present volumes,
and at least 700 remain to be described before a complete account of the ornithology of Papuasia will have
been attained.

From Dr. Sclater’s memoir before mentioned we take the following details of early exploration in
New Guinea. Although Birds of Paradise were often sent, in a mutilated state, in early times, and some of
them were figured in ancient books, very few other birds from this quarter of the globe were known to
Linneus, and our first real acquaintance with Papuan Ornithology is due to the French traveller Sonnerat,
who went there in 1771, and procured some plants and animals, principally on the island of Jobi, in North-
western New Guinea. The results of his discoveries were published in his ‘Voyage ala Nouvelle Guinée,’
in 1776. The French exploring-ship the ‘ Uranie’ procured a few birds in 1824, and the ‘ Coquille’ spent
;

twelve days ata harbour in North-eastern New Guinea, which they named ‘ Havre Dorey’ ; about fifty species