Birds of Celebes: Dicaeidae. 445 



Young male. Not a trace of red on throat and breast; under surface gi'ey, with greenish 

 yellow intermixed; above uniform dark grey; tail and wing-feathers with some metaUic 

 gloss (W. Blasius (*). 



Female. A female is described by Salvadori as follows: above ashy bluish, slightly glossy; 

 wings, upper tail-coverts and tail darker, nearly black; middle of under surface from 

 chin to crissum whitish, slightly yellowish, sides of body greyish shghtly olivescent; 

 under tail-coverts white, dusky in the middle. 



Prof. W. Blasius informs us that this description of the female does not corre- 

 spond with the two females sent by Dr. Platen from Great Sangi. '■^Dicaeum 

 saiighirense gad. and (f ad. are distinguishable from one another in very inappreci- 

 able respects only, judging fi-om the examples collected by Platen and submitted to 

 me. The description of a female by Salvadori seems to me also to have reference 

 to a young example" (in lit.). 



Bill from 



Measurements. 



Wing 



1 nostril 



49 28 I 6 



Tarsus 



12 



12 



a. (C 1050) IcT] ad., Tabukan. Gt. Sangi 



b. (C 515) [cf] inim., Tabukan, Gt. Sangi 50 I 28 | 6 



The smallest and largest sjiecimens of 11 adults recorded by W. Blasius differ 

 as follows: wing 47, 51; tail 27, 29; culmen 9, 9 (in two others 9.5); tarsus 11, 12. 

 Distribution. Great Sangi (Bruijn 1, Meyer in Dresd. Mus., Platen 6). 



The Dicaeum of Sangi has its nearest known affinities in D. talautense, 

 celebicum and svlaense. It may be distinguished, as Count Salvadori has shown, 

 from D. celebicum by the glossy blue black, not blackish violaceous, of its upper 

 surface, and by its white belly and under tail-coverts, the former scarcely tinged 

 with yellow. From D.sulaense it is separable, as Dr. Sharpe shows, by its 

 ashy, not olive, sides. It is smaller than D. talautense, and has the sides less 

 dark grey, the flanks whitish. 



D. sanffirense, celebicum, talautense and sulaense, of the Celebes Province form 

 with D.monticola Sharpe of Kini Balu, Borneo, a very closely connected little 

 group. Rather further removed are Dicaeum hirundinaceum (Shaw & Nodder) 

 of Australia, and its allies, a,nA D . sanguinolentum 1l exam, of Java, and the female 

 of the latter has the peculiarity of having the upper tail-coverts scarlet. Another 

 section, consisting of D. mackloti M. & S. of Timor and D. salvadorii Meyer of 

 Babbar Island between Timor and Timorlaut, and D. sphndidum Bilttik. of 

 Saleyer, Djampea and ? S. Celebes have the rump and upper tail-coverts scarlet 

 in the male, and in the first and last species (the female of D. salvadorii is not 

 yet known) in the female also. If the female of D. sanguinolentum be supposed 

 to display a lower stage than the male in the evolution of the race, this species 

 should formerly have resembled D. mackloti. 



173. DICAEUM TALAUTENSE M.&Wg. 



Talaut Red-throated Flower-pecker. 



Dicaeum talautense (1) M. & Wg., Abh. Mus. Dresden 1895, Nr. 9, p. 5. 

 "Tete marundang" or "Tete apiapi". Karkellang, Nat. Coll. 



