430 Birds of Celebes: Artamidao. 



This species aj: pears to be a recent invader from the islands in the South, 

 to South C!elebes, where it occurs together with L. leucopygialis, a species which 

 is peculiar to Celebes, whereas L. thnorensis has a wider distribution. What 

 Meyer described (g 1) as L,. riedeli from Kisser near Timor does not differ 

 in coloration from the typical form, which we are now able to compare, but 

 whether the differences in size (see measurements above) entitle it to the rank 

 of a subspecies, only future investigation with more specimens in hand can show. 



FAMILY ARTAMIDAE. 



As Gadow remarks (Newton's Diet. B. 739), Artamus is the only genus 

 in the enormous group of the Passeres known to possess powder-down patches. 

 "They occur in all the species, in patches on the sides of the breast, the thighs 

 and lower back, and have a strong barrel, one-third of an inch long". They 

 are simply coloured birds, chiefly grey or black above and white below, with 

 very long wings, reaching far beyond the end of the tail; the first primary is 

 minute, the second and third the longest, the secondaries rather more than half 

 as long. The bill is about as long as the cranium, bluish in colour, the culmen 

 rounded, almost bloated; it is covered by a cere at its base, hidden by the 

 feathers of the forehead; nostril a roundish aperture in the horn of the bill; 

 tarsus shorter than the toes, which form a rather large foot. They catch most 

 of their insect-food on the wing, and their flight has been compared to that of 

 Swallows and' of Birds-of-prey. The sexes are similar, and the young closely 

 resemble their parents; the nest and eggs are Shrike-like. Sharpe recognizes 

 two genera, found in the Australian and Oriental Regions, and in West Africa. 



Celebes has two species of this family which is most strongly represented 

 in Australia, one peculiar, most nearly allied to a form in the New Britain 

 group, the other a species of wide range which seems to have spread over the 

 East Indies in recent times. As these birds have very fine flying -powers they 

 are not of much weight in questions of geographical distribution. 



GENUS ARTAMUS Vieill. 



The characters as for the family. It differs from Pseudochelidon of West 

 Africa by its pointed bill, which is longer than the hind toe and claw, and by 

 its square tail (Sharpe). Australian and Oriental Regions. 



166. ARTAMUS LEUCOGASTER (Val.). 



White-rumped Swallow-shrike. 



a. Ocypterus leucogaster (I) Valenc, Mem. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. 1820, "VI, 21, pi. VII, fig. 2. 



b. Artamus leucopygialis (1) Gld., P. Z. S. 1S42, 17; (II) id., B. Austr. 1848, H, pi. 33; 



(3) id., HB. B. Austr. 1865, I, 154; (4) Studer, Reise Gazelle 1889, HI, 189. 



