In the Andamans and Nicobars Part 33

So far as the species not peculiar to the islands are concerned, the influence of the Indian sub-region has vastly predominated; and if we look to the genera the preponderance is still more marked, and thus it seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that the ornis has altogether a very far stronger affinity with that of the Indian region than with those of either the Indo-Burmese or the Indo-Malayan. Yet this involves great difficulties, for if we take Port Blair as a centre we shall find that its average distance in all directions north and east from Tena.s.serim (where the Indo-Malayan fauna predominates), and north of this from the Indo-Burmese sub-region, is less than half its distance from the nearest point of the Indian sub-region.

That so many of the characteristic birds of the Arakan Hills, especially the Rasores, should be entirely wanting, we may partly account for by the supposition that the mountains and the chain of islands never were continuous, and that the same agency that raised the Arakan Hills only raised portions of their continuation above the sea-level, so that, therefore, the islands have never been connected with Pegu. If, however, the groups first appeared and have ever since remained as detached islands, it is inconceivable how the great bulk of the work of colonisation should have gone on from a region so distant while so little should have been done from others less than half as far away.

Colonisation in no ordinary sense, however, can explain these facts. But the case of Sumatra, which, although only 80 miles distant from Great Nicobar, and itself the first link of a great chain, teems right up to Acheen Head with species unknown to the Nicobars, is perfectly comprehensible in the light of our knowledge of the deep sea existing between it and these latter islands.[221]

If we conclude that the avifauna of the islands of the Bengal Sea is essentially Indian and not Indo-Burmese and Indo-Malayan, we must accept the fact with the qualification that we find it here in a most imperfect and mutilated form, lacking more or less entirely a large proportion of its characteristic genera, many of which are the strongest and most widely distributed, and to which the climate would appear in every way congenial.[222]

_List of Birds occurring in the Andamans and Nicobars._[223]

(A. denotes occurrence in the Andamans, N. in the Nicobars.)

Corvus macrorhyncus, Wagl. A.

Dendrocitta bayleyi, Tytler A.

Zosterops palpebrosa, Temm. A. N.

Irena puella, Lath. A.

Otocompsa emeria, Linn. A. N.

Iole nicobarica, Moore N.

Micropus fusciflavescens, Hume A.

Dicrurus annectens, Hodgs. N.

D. leucogenys, Wald. N.

Dissemuroides andamanensis, Tytler A.

D. dicruriformis, Hume A.

D. paradiseus, Linn. A. N.

Locustella certhiola, Pall. A. N.

L. lanceolata, Temm. A.

Cisticola cursitans, Frankl. N.

Arundinax aedon, Blyth A. N.

Phylloscopus fuscatus, Blyth A.

Acanthopneuste magnirostris, Blyth A.

A. borealis, Blas. A.

A. lugubris, Blyth A.

A. tennilipes, Swinhoe N.

Horornis pallidipes, Blanf. A.

Lanius cristatus, Linn. A.

L. lucionensis, Linn. A. N.

Pericrocrotus andamanensis, Tytler A.

P. peregrinus, Linn. A.

P. cinereus, Lafr. A.

Campophaga terat, Bodd. N.

Grauculus macii, Less. A.

G. dobsoni, Ball A.

Artamus leucogaster, Val. A.

Oriolus macrurus, Blyth A.

O. andamanensis, Tytler A.

O. melanocephalus, Linn. A.

Eulabes intermedia, Hay A. N.

Calornis chalybeus, Horsf. A. N.

Pastor roseus, Linn. A.

Sturnia andamanensis, Tytler A.

S. erythropygia, Blyth N.

Agropsar sturninus, Pall. N.

Acridotheres tristis, Linn. A. N.

Muscitrea griseola, Blyth A.

Anthipes olivaceus(?), Hume A.

Alseonax latirostris, Raffl. A.

Terpsiphone nicobarica, Oates A. N.

Hypothymis azurea, Bodd. N.

H. tytleri, Beaven A.

Pratincola maura, Pall. A.

Cyanecula suecica, Linn. A.

Copsycus saularis, Linn. A.

Cittincola albiventris, Blyth A.

Merula obscura, Gemel. A.

Geocichla sibirica, Pall. A.

G. albigularis, Blyth N.

G. andamanensis, Wald. A.

Petrophila solitaria, Mull. A. N.

Urolonga semistriata, Hume N.

U. fumigata, Wald. A.

Pa.s.ser domesticus, Linn. A.

Emberiza pusilla, Pall. A.

E. aureola, Pall. N.

Hirundo rustica, Linn. A. N.

H. javanica, Sparmm. A.

Motacilla leucopsis, Gould A.

M. melanope, Pall. A. N.

M. borealis, Sundev. A. N.

M. flava, Linn. A. N.

Liminodromus indicus A. N.

Anthus richardi, Vieill A.

A. cervinus, Pall. A. N.

aethopyga nicobarica, Hume N.

Arachnechthra andamanica, Hume A.

Dicaeum virescens, Hume. A.

Dendrocopus andamanensis, Blyth A.

Thriponax hodgii, Blyth A.

Eurystomus orientalis, Linn. A.

Merops philippinus, Linn. N.

Melittophagus swinhoii, Hume A.

Alcedo ispida, Linn. A. N.

A. beaveni, Wald. A.

Ceyx tridactyla, Pall. A. N.

Pelargopsis leucocephala, Gm. N.

P. guarial, Pearson A.

Halcyon saturatior, Hume A.

H. pileata, Bodd. A. N.

H. davisoni, Sharpe A.

H. occipitalis, Blyth N.