284 Mr. A. R. Wallace on the Ornithology 



— a new species of Basilornis^, a genus hitherto containing only 

 a single Celebes species, which that of Ceram closely resembles, 

 but has the crest much elongated and recurved. Of this inter- 

 esting bird, however, I only got a pair of specimens. And that 

 was really all that three months' collecting produced in much- 

 vaunted Ceram. 



It was, however, the eastern part of Ceram that I had heard 

 most spoken of, and I determined to try again, and after nearly 

 two months' delay, owing to illness in Amboyna, I started afresh. 

 My first stopping-place was at Teluti, near the centre of the S. 

 coast, which tempted me by its noble forests, lofty mountains, 

 and rocky streams. 



Four days' search, however, convinced me that all was barren ; 

 birds were scarcer than ever; and the natives were quite astonished 

 at being asked about handsome birds, assuring me they knew of 

 none in their country. 



I then went on to Kissa laut, near the east end of the island, 

 where 1 stayed a month, and obtained literally not one species new 

 to me, and, moreover, none of the few good things that I had 

 met with, though rarely, in W. Ceram. The forests and thickets 

 were here most wretchedly depopulated of bird-life. Some half- 

 dozen species, mostly noisy ones, were to be seen and heard, in- 

 deed, every day and everywhere, such as Cacatua moluccensis, the 

 Trichoglossus versicolor {"i) , and Eos rubra (the only species of 



* Mr. G. R. Gray considers the Basilornis of Ceram to be the Pastor 

 corythaix of Wagler. It must therefore stand as Basilornis corythaix ; 

 while the species of Celebes will retain Temminck's name, Basilornis 

 celehensis. Both species are figured in the accompanying illustration by 

 Mr. Wolf (Plate IX.), and their differences, which are sufficiently obvious, 

 are pointed out by Mr. Gray, as follows. The two birds " are easily di- 

 stinguished from one another by the form of their crests. That of Celebes 

 possesses a short, compressed, keel-like crest, which extends from the 

 culmen to behind the head, and is composed entirely of scale-like and 

 convex feathers ; whilst that of Ceram has an occipital, erect, and elongated 

 crest, which, when viewed sideways, assumes somewhat of a subtriangular 

 form, and is composed of truncated, rather broad and lax plumes. It also 

 differs in having the nostrils exposed and a naked space round each eye. 

 In the Celebes species the nostrils are covered by the frontal plumes, and 

 there is scarcely any naked space round the eyes. — P. Z. S. April 23rd, 

 IHCL— Ed. 



