He hears from closely allied, yet distinct
kinds of birds, notes nearly similar, and sees their nests similarly
constructed, but not quite alike, with eggs coloured in nearly the same
manner. The plains near the Straits of Magellan are inhabited by one
species of Rhea (American ostrich), and northward the plains of La Plata by
another species of the same genus; and not by a true ostrich or emu, like
those inhabiting Africa and Australia under the same latitude. On these
same plains of La Plata we see the agouti and bizcacha, animals having
nearly the same habits as our hares and rabbits, and belonging to the same
order of Rodents, but they plainly display an American type of structure.
We ascend the lofty peaks of the Cordillera, and we find an alpine species
of bizcacha; we look to the waters, and we do not find the beaver or
muskrat, but the coypu and capybara, rodents of the South American type.
Innumerable other instances could be given. If we look to the islands off
the American shore, however much they may differ in geological structure,
the inhabitants are essentially American, though they may be all peculiar
species. We may look back to past ages, as shown in the last chapter, and
we find American types then prevailing on the American continent and in the
American seas. We see in these facts some deep organic bond, throughout
space and time, over the same areas of land and water, independently of
physical conditions.
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