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Dr. Graham Renshaw.



but we must wait in patience, for in these sad days one loses interest

in the birds we may still possess, feeling that in greater things than

these must we employ our time and energy. H. D. A.



THE CELEBEAN MALEO.


By Graham Renshaw, M.D., F.R.S.E.


One of the outstanding features of aviculture is the erratic

and irregular supply of specimens. A bird may be imported for

years, so cheap does it become that it is almost despised, then

suddenly it cannot be obtained at any price, and its place is taken

by some other species. Rarity in the market does not postulate

rarity in the native habitat, the catchers may have no inquiry for the

particular bird, so they limit themselves to those which they know

to be in request. One may instance many South American forms,

common enough in their tropical home, yet never seen alive in this

country; in fact, this paradox obtains in every quarter of the globe.

There are some species which are not only abundant in their own

country, but are of great zoological interest; they are easy to keep,

for they can stand a long sea voyage and the climate of Europe

afterwards. Yet so little are they known in captivity that the

arrival of one of them, even in the largest collections, is hailed almost

as a return of the phoenix ; the curious Maleo birds which swarm on

the coast of Northern Celebes are cases in point.


The Celebean Maleo is quaint yet very handsome. About

the size of a large Guinea-fowl, it has the head hare and the neck

nearly so; the wings are ample, the tail is carried raised and slightly

folded like a Silver Pheasant’s, the broad, powerful feet are partly

webbed. The bare head is decorated with a curious rounded casque

composed of spongy honeycombed bone like the helmet of a Hornbill,

and there is a smaller projection in front of each eye. The colora¬

tion of the Maleo is pleasing; the head and throat are dark brown,

the wings are brownish-black, and the tail is black glossed with green.

The underparts are lovely pinkish salmon-colour during life, but in

museum skins this gradually fades till the specimen is quite bleached.

The bill is pea green, with a red culmen ; the legs and feet are



