ted, and the supposition that they all
have had their original home in the Oriental Region offers, I think, no
serious obstacle. The view of the European origin of the mammoth
especially is open to very serious objections. It does not occur in any
European pliocene deposits, and could not therefore have originated in
our Continent until pleistocene times. That it should then have
commenced its travels through Europe and Siberia to the New Siberian
Islands and North America seems almost an impossibility. But if we
suppose the mammoth to have had its home in India in pliocene times, it
could then easily have migrated to all the parts of the world where its
remains have been discovered.

Of the Asiatic mammals still living, some have only just crossed the
borders of Europe and then died out again. Similar cases have been
referred to in discussing the Siberian migration. Thus remains of the
camel have been found in Roumania and in Southern Russia in pleistocene
deposits. Others have lingered on to the present day. _Crocidura
etrusca_, for instance, still lives in Southern France, Italy, Sicily,
and North-western Africa. All its nearest relations are typically
Oriental species. In spite of the fact that a _Crocidura_ is known from
French and German miocene deposits, the general range of the genus
suggests an Oriental origin. In early Tertiary times a section spread
into African territory and another eastward as far as the island of
Timor. This may possibly have happened in miocene times, when a few
species likewise found their way into Europe. Many other mammals have
wandered still farther west, and now form an important percentage of the
European fauna.

Of Birds, too, a large number might be mentioned which had their home in
Asia and have found their way to Europe with the Oriental migrants. A
few instances have already been alluded to, and some additional ones may
be specified at random, without attempting to give a complete list.

Some of the Wagtails (_Motacilla_), as I mentioned in the last chapter,
have certainly come to us with the Siberian migration; but others seem
to be Oriental, such as _Motacilla melanope_, which is resident in
Southern Europe and migratory in the North. _M. campestris_--the Yellow
Wagtail--has a most peculiar discontinuous range. One colony breeds in
the British Isles and Western Europe generally, where it is known as a
summer visitor, retiring to West Africa during winter; another is found