Of Celebes. 281 



sis) is a blue-black bird, with a white patch on each side of 

 the breast, and the head ornamented with a beautiful com- 

 pressed scaly crest of feathers, resembling in form that of the 

 well-known cock-of-the-rock of South America. The only ally 

 to this bird is found in Ceram, and has the feathers of the 

 crest elongated upward into quite a different form. 



A stiU more curious bird is the Scissirostrum pagei, which 

 although it is at present classed in the starling family, differs 

 from all other species in the form of the bill and nostrils, and 

 seems most nearly allied in its general structure to the ox- 

 peckers (Buphaga) of tropical Africa, next to which the cele- 

 brated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte finally placed it. It is 

 almost entirely of a slaty color, with yeUow bill and feet, but 

 the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each termin- 

 ate in a rigid glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson. These 

 pretty little birds take the place of the metallic-green star- 

 lings of the genus Calornis, which are found in most other isl- 

 ands of the Archipelago, but which are absent from Celebes. 

 They go in flocks, feeding upon grain and fruits, often fre- 

 quenting dead trees, in holes of which they build their nests, 

 and they chng to the trunks as easily as woodpeckers or creep- 

 ers. 



Out of eighteen i^igeons found in Celebes, eleven are pecul- 

 iar to it. Two of them (Ptilonopus gularis and Turacsena 

 menadensis) have their nearest allies in Timor. Two others 

 (Carpophaga forsteni and Phlagenas tristigmata) most re- 

 semble Philippine Island species, and Carpophaga radiata be- 

 longs to a New Guinea group. Lastly, in the gallinaceous 

 tribe, the curious helmeted maleo (Megacephalon rubripes) is 

 quite isolated, having its nearest (but stiU distant) allies in 

 the brush-turkeys of Australia and New Guinea. 



Judging, therefore, by the opinions of the eminent nat- 

 uralists who have described and classified its birds, we find 

 that many of the species have no near aUies whatever in the 

 countries which surround Celebes, but are either quite iso- 

 lated, or indicate relations with such distant regions as New 

 Guinea, Australia, India, or Africa. Other cases of similar 

 remote afiinities between the productions of distant coun- 

 tries no doubt exist, but in no spot upon the globe that I am 

 yet acquainted with do so many of them occur together, or 



