432 Birds of Celebes; Artamidae. 



Measurements (10 adults from Celebes). "Wing 134 — 146 mm; tail 63 — 68; bill from nostril 

 15 — 16.5; tarsus 18 ca. 



(2 young). Wing 117, 118; tail 61, 65; bill from nostril 12.5; tarsus 18. 



Skeleton. Parts of it have been treated of by Parker, Trans. Z. S. Vol. IX, 1873, 317, 

 and Sharp e, Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg, m, 26, 1892. 



Eggs. (Java) 3 — 4, faintly glossy ground tending somewhat to yellowish, and usually with a 

 very well-marked and plain circlet of grey and brown spots towards the blunt end. 

 The brown ones — usually pale liver -brown — are the more numerous and vary 

 considerably .... the grey are pale ash- colour and seem to Me under the brown, 

 i. e. in the shell itself. Several variations are described. Size 23—25 X 17 — 18 mm 

 (Bernstein 2). — (Austraha) usually 3, flesh-white or dull white, freckled, spotted 

 and blotched, -ftith yellowish brown, and bluish grey, the last appearing as if beneath 

 the surface of the shell; usually a zone at the larger end; size 22.9 — 24.1 X 15.7 — 16.0 

 (North 9, Gould b 3). — "The eggs have a white (Java) to yellowish (Austraha) 

 ground, with large lilac spots below and similar hver-brown spots above, which form 

 a closed circlet at the blunt end. They bring to mind the eggs of oiu- common 

 Lanius collurio and are of Hke size ^ 22 — 33 X 17 mm" (Nehrkorn MS). 



Nest. (Java) — Exteriorly somewhat Shrike-like, usually placed amongst the many kinds of 

 parasites which always clothe the stem of the Areng-palm, or also in the lappets 

 formed by the leaves of this or of the cocoa-palm, and only rarely in the leafy crown 

 of a chcotyledonous tree. Made of dry, somewhat coarse stalks, roots, leaves, bits 

 of hchen and moss, roughly and loosely bound together gi\'ing the nest a disorderly, 

 shaggy exterior; lined with finer materials, mostly the elastic threads of the Areng- 

 palm, and a few soft stalks, forming a regular flattened, half-spherical receptacle 

 (Bernstein 2). 



(Andamans). — One found was a shallow, saucer-shaped structure of grass, some- 

 what coarse exteriorly, finer inside, placed in the hollow at the top of a rotten 

 mangrove stump 20 ft. liigh (Davison c 3). 



(Australia). — Often avails itself of the deserted nests of other species instead of 

 building a new one. Most of the pairs found breeding by Gould had possessed them- 

 selves of the forsaken nests of Grallimi j)icata, re-hning it with grasses, etc. Nests 

 made by the birds themselves are of grasses and fine plants, placed in the fork 

 of a tree gi-owing by, or in, the water (Gould b 3, North 0). 

 Breeding season. Australia — September till January (b 3) ; Andamans — building. May 2°* 

 (c 3) ; Celebes — as the two young specimens, about 2 months old , in the Dresden 

 Museum were killed in the middle of May, it appears that tlie bird breeds here early 

 in the year. 



Distribution. Almost all the islands south and east of a line drawn from the Andaman Is- 

 lands through the Malacca Straits to Luzon, as far as E. New Guinea, Victoria and 

 S. Australia. For exact locahties see Salvadori 4, 12, adding — Bilhton and 

 Mendanau (Vorderman c .9), Palawan (Platen 10), Bah (Wallace 11), Natuna Is. 

 (Everett, Hose 19, 21), Sumbawa, Satonda, Sumba (Doherty 25), several Philiijpine 

 Islands (B. & W. 20); Celebes Province — Minahassa (Wallace 11, Meyer c 5, 

 etc.); Gorontalo Distr. (Meyer c 5); E. Celebes (Nat. CoU. 24); S. Celebes — Ma- 

 cassar (Wallace 11, Meyer c 5, Weber 17, etc.), Tjamba Distr. (Platen 7); Saleyer 

 Island (Weber 17, Everett 26); Djampea (Everett 26); Islands off N. Celebes — 

 Banka, Lembeh and Manado tua (Nat. Coll.); Togian Islands (Meyer c 5); Peling 

 and Banggai (Nat. Coll. 24). 



As yet unrecorded from Sangi, Talaut, and Sula (?). 



