(27 ) 



27. Edoliisoma obiense Salvad. (?) 



Edoliisoma obiense Salvad., Ann. Mas. Civ. Gen. xii. p. 329 fl878 : Obi). 



It is with some hesitation that I call these birds E. obiense. The males do not 

 differ from those of E. obiense — neither in coloration nor in dimensions can I find 

 any dififerences. The question is about the females : we have no red females / If 

 the birds sent by Mr. Kiihn are adult females, then this bird diflers fin the female 

 sex) appreciably from E. obiense, hut I am not (juite certain about this. There are 

 eight males, two (Nos. 44(J6, 4407) from Tomia, and six from Kalidupa (Nos. 4556, 

 4557, 4558, 4559, 4560, 4561, Kiihn coll.). " Iris deep brown (blackish brown, black), 

 bill and feet black." Then there is a specimen from Tomia (No. 4408) marked "<?." 

 Its underside is creamy white, abdomen washed with buff, under tail-coverts buff, 

 the whole under-surface narrowly barred with brownish black, these bars becoming 

 obsolete on the under tail-coverts. Upperside browTiish grey, with remains of a 

 spotted plumage. This specimen is, I think, an immature male. Then there are 

 two (Nos. 4409, 4563), from Tomia and Kalidupa, both marked " ? ," both perfectly 

 alike, with the underside very pale buff, sparsely marked with stump arrow-shaped 

 cross-marks, chiefly on the sides ; under tail-coverts and middle of throat uniform 

 pale buff. Upperside grey-brown, crown bluish grey. I think these must be adult 

 females. If this surmise is correct they cannot be called Edoliisoma obiense, because 

 the adult female of the latter is below uniform cinnamon, above cinnamon-brown, 

 with a slaty-grey or bluish grey crown. In view, however, of an immature bird 

 received from Obi ]Major, and described by me in the list of Obi birds, which is 

 somewhat similar to the two supposed adult females from the Tukang-Besi Islands, 

 though evidently immature, as shown by the crown, which is not bluish slate, but of 

 the colom- of the back, with white tips to the feathers, I am not absolutely certain 

 on this point. Another bird, marked " (? ? " (No. 4562, from Kalidupa), is similar 

 to the supposed nduU females, but moidting into bluish gi'ey on the throat. 



The question arises : Can the supposed adult females be really immature males, 

 and is the actual adult /emwie cinnamon, like that of E. obiense!' 



Edoliisoma obiense occurs not only on Obi, but also on the Sula Islands, and on 

 Peliog and Banggai, between Sula and Celebes. 



28. Lalage timoriensis (S. jMuIL). 



'2S(S, Binongka, 10. xii. 1901 (Nos. 4299, 4300). " Iris cofifee-brown, feet blackish, 

 bill black." Both these specimens agree with L. timoriensis, but the white super- 

 ciliary stripe is only very narrowly indicated. From our series of over twenty adult 

 males from various localities, I deduct that the narrowness and even absence of the 

 white superciliary line is not a local character, but pmely individual. The absence 

 of this stripe may be more frequent in Celebes, but we have not such large series as 

 to show this, and there are Celebesian specimens with wide white superciliary stripes. 



29. Artamus leucogaster (^'alenc.). 



Buton (No.s. 4136, 4173;, Binongka (Nos. 4301, 4302), Tomia (Nos. 4387, 4388, 

 4389, 4390, 4391, 4392), Kalidupa (Nos. 4509, 4510, 4511, 4512, 4513, 4514, 

 Kiihn coll.). 



