As So Often Happens In Nature, However, The Fact Turns Out To Be
Just The Reverse Of What We Should
Have expected; and an
examination of its animal productions shows Celebes to be at
once the poorest in the number
Of its species, and the most
isolated in the character of its productions, of all the great
islands in the Archipelago. With its attendant islets it spreads
over an extent of sea hardly inferior in length and breadth to
that occupied by Borneo, while its actual land area is nearly
double that of Java; yet its Mammalia and terrestrial birds
number scarcely more than half the species found in the last-
named island. Its position is such that it could receive
immigrants from every side more readily than Java, yet in
proportion to the species which inhabit it, far fewer seem derived
from other islands, while far more are altogether peculiar to it;
and a considerable number of its animal forms are so remarkable,
as to find no close allies in any other part of the world. I now
propose to examine the best known groups of Celebesian animals in
some detail, to study their relations to those of other islands,
and to call attention to the many points of interest which they
suggest.
We know far more of the birds of Celebes than we do of any other
group of animals. No less than 191 species have been discovered,
and though no doubt, many more wading and swimming birds have to
be added; yet the list of land birds, 144 in number, and which
for our present purpose are much the most important, must be very
nearly complete.
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