about two thousand described species.5
Separate and Overlapping Areas.—The species of a genus are distributed in two ways. Either they occupy distinct areas which do not touch each other and are sometimes widely separated, or they touch and occasionally overlap each other, each species occupying an area of its own which rarely coincides exactly with that of any other species of the same genus. In some cases, when a river, a mountain-chain, or a change of conditions as from pasture to desert or forest, determines the range of species, the areas of two species of the same genus may just meet, one beginning where the other ends; but this is comparatively rare. It occurs, however, in the Amazon valley, where several species of monkeys, birds, and insects come up to the south bank of the river but do not pass it, while allied species come to the north bank, which in like manner forms their boundary. As examples we may mention that one of the Saki monkeys (Pithecia monachus?) comes up to the south bank of the Upper Amazon, while immediately we cross over to the north bank we find another species (Pithecia rufibarbata?). Among birds we have the green jacamar (Galbula viridis), abundant on the north bank of the Lower Amazon, while on the south bank we have two allied species (Galbula rufoviridis and G. cyaneicollis); and among insects we have at Santarem on the south bank of the Amazon, the beautiful blue butterfly, Callithea sapphira, while almost opposite to it, at Monte-alegre, an allied species, Callithea Leprieuri is alone found. Perhaps the most interesting and best known case of a series of allied species, whose ranges are separate but conterminous, is that of the beautiful South American wading birds, called trumpeters, and forming the genus Psophia. There are five species, all found in the Amazon valley, but each limited to a well-marked district bounded by great rivers. On the north bank of the Amazon there are two species, one in its lower valley extending up to the Rio Negro; and the other in the central part of the valley beyond that river; while to the south of the Amazon there are three, one above the Madeira, one below it, and a third near Para, probably separated from the last by the Tocantins river.
Overlapping areas among the species of a genus is a more common phenomenon, and is almost universal where these species are numerous in the same continent. It is, however, exceedingly irregular, so that we often find one species extending over a considerable portion of the area occupied by the genus and including the entire areas of some of the other species. So little has been done to work out accurately the limits of species that it is very difficult to give examples. One of the best is to be found in the genus Dendrœca, a group of American wood-warblers. These little birds all migrate in the winter into the tropical regions, but in the summer they come north, each having its particular range. Thus, D. dominica comes as far as the middle Eastern States, D. cœrulea keeps west of the Alleghanies, D. discolor comes to Michigan and New England; four other species go farther north in Canada, while several extend to the borders of the Arctic zone.
The Species of Tits as Illustrating Areas of Distribution.—In our own hemisphere the overlapping of allied species may be well illustrated by the various kinds of titmice, constituting the genus Parus, several of which are among our best known English birds. The great titmouse (Parus major) has the widest range of all, extending from the Arctic circle to Algeria, Palestine, and Persia, and from Ireland right across Siberia to the Ochotsk sea, probably following the great northern forest belt. It does not extend into China and Japan, where distinct species are found. Next in extent of range is the coal tit (Parus ater) which inhabits all Europe from the Mediterranean to about 64° N. latitude, in Asia Minor to the Lebanon and Caucasus, and across Siberia to Amoorland and Japan. The marsh tit (Parus palustris) inhabits temperate and south Europe from 61° N. latitude in Norway to Poland and South-west Russia, and in the south from Spain to Asia Minor. Closely allied to this—of which it is probably only a variety or sub-species—is the northern marsh tit (Parus borealis), which overlaps the last in Norway and Sweden, and also in South Russia and the Alps, but extends further north into Lapland and North Russia, and thence probably in a south-easterly direction across Central Asia to North China. Yet another closely-allied species (Parus camtschatkensis) ranges from North-eastern Russia across Northern Siberia to Lake Baikal and to Hakodadi in Japan, thus overlapping Parus borealis in the western portion of its area. Our little favourite, the blue tit (Parus cœruleus) ranges over all Europe from the Arctic circle to the Mediterranean, and on to Asia Minor and Persia, but does not seem to pass beyond the Ural mountains. Its lovely eastern ally the azure tit (Parus cyaneus) overlaps the range of P. cœruleus in Western Europe as far as St. Petersburg and Austria, rarely straggling to Denmark, while it stretches all across Central Asia between the latitudes 35° and 56° N. as far as the Amoor valley. Besides these wide-ranging species there are several others which are more restricted. Parus teneriffæ, a beautiful dark blue form of our blue tit, inhabits North-west Africa and the Canaries; Parus ledouci, closely allied to our coal tit, is found only in Algeria; Parus lugubris, allied to the marsh tit, is confined to South-east Europe and Asia Minor, from Hungary and South Russia to Palestine; and Parus cinctus, another allied form, is confined to the extreme north in Lapland, Finland, and perhaps Northern Russia and Siberia. Another beautiful little bird, the crested titmouse (Parus cristatus) is sometimes placed in a separate genus. It inhabits nearly all Central and South Europe, wherever there are pine forests, from 64° N. latitude to Austria and North Italy, and in the west to Spain and Gibraltar, while in the east it does not pass the Urals and the Caucasus range. Its nearest allies are in the high Himalayas.
These are all the European tits, but there are many others inhabiting Asia, Africa, and North America; so that the genus Parus has a very wide range, in Asia to Ceylon and the Malay Islands, in Africa to the Cape, and in North America to the highlands of Mexico.
The Distribution of the Species of Jays.—Owing to the very wide range of several of the tits, the uncertainty of the specific distinction of others, and the difficulty in many cases of ascertaining their actual distribution, it has not been found practicable to illustrate this genus by means of a map. For this purpose we have chosen the genus Garrulus or the jays, in which the species are less numerous, the specific areas less extensive, and the species generally better defined; while being large and handsome birds they are sure to have been collected, or at least noticed, wherever they occur. There are, so far as yet known, twelve species of true jays, occupying an area extending from Western Europe to Eastern Asia and Japan, and nowhere passing the Arctic circle to the north, or the tropic of Cancer to the south, so that they constitute one of the most typical of the Palæarctic6 genera. The following are the species, beginning with the most westerly and proceeding towards the east. The numbers prefixed to each species correspond to those on the coloured map which forms the frontispiece to this volume.
1. Garrulus glandarius.—The common jay, inhabits the British Isles and all Europe except the extreme north, extending also into North Africa, where it has been observed in many parts of Algeria. It occurs near Constantinople, but apparently not in Asia Minor; and in Russia, up to, but not beyond, the Urals. The jays being woodland birds are not found in open plains or barren uplands, and their distribution is hence by no means uniform within the area they actually occupy.
2. Garrulus cervicalis.—The Algerian jay, is a very distinct species inhabiting a limited area in North Africa, and found in some places along with the common species.
3. Garrulus krynicki.—The black-headed jay, is closely allied to the common species, but quite distinct, inhabiting a comparatively small area in South-eastern Europe, and Western Asia.
4. Garrulus atricapillus.—The Syrian jay, is very closely allied to the last, and inhabits an adjoining area in Syria, Palestine, and Southern Persia.
5. Garrulus hyrcanus.—The Persian jay, is a small species allied to our jay and only known from the Elburz Mountains in the north of Persia.
6. Garrulus brandti.—Brandt's jay, is a very distinct species, having an extensive range across Asia from the Ural Mountains to North China, Mandchuria, and the
Many of these large genera are now subdivided, the divisions being sometimes termed genera, sometimes sub-genera.
The Palæarctic region includes temperate Asia and Europe, as will be explained in the next chapter.
