446 Birds of Celebes: Dicaeidae. 



Adult male. Like D. sangirense rj', but larger; breast and sides of body dusky olive-slate- 

 grey, a stripe of glossy \'iolet-black down the middle of the breast (in fully adult 

 birds only); abdomen yellowish white, flanks ohve-slate-grey; under tail-coverts white, 

 with broad olive-black centres (Karkellang, Talaut, autumn, 1896, 15371). 



Female? Above olive-slate-grey, with a slight gloss of violet on the mantle and head, a wash 

 of yellowish on the rump; wings and tail black, glossed with violet, the wings with 

 edgings to the feathers of the colour of the back; under parts chiefly yellowish 

 olivaceous, gi'eyer on sides of breast and face, along the mesial region of the throat 

 and body pale yellowish; under wing-coverts wliite with some darker shaft-streaks 

 (Karkellang, C 15374). 



Young [male] . The basal half of the bill yellow ; like the female, but the entire under parts 

 yellowish olivaceous, except a little yellowish on the abdomen, and no violet gloss on 

 the head or mantle (Karkellang: C 15372). 



Measurements. Wing (females) 48 — 50 mm; (males) 51—56; tail ca. 27 — 28; tarsus ca. 13; 



bill from nostril ca. 7 — 7.5. 

 Distribution. Talaut Islands — Karkellang (Nat. Coll.). 



This species is known only from the largest island of the Talaut group, 

 where a small series was obtained by our native hunters in November, 1893, 

 and a very good series in autumn, 1896. As a rule the geographical races 

 of Sangi are slightly larger than those of Talaut, but in the present case this 

 condition is reversed, for D. talautense is a little larger than D. smigirense, and 

 it is also more darkly coloured, as are indeed Oriolus melanistkus. Pitta impecti- 

 lata and Edoliisoma talautense of Talaut. 



-* * 174. DIOAEUM SPLENDIDUM Biitt. 



Saleyer Flower-pecker. 



Dicaeum splendidum (1) Biittik., Notes Leyden Mus. 1893, XV, 180; (2) Hart., Nov. Zool. 

 1890, 167, 182, 256. 



Adult male. Entire head, hind neck and sides of neck, mantle, back and wing- 

 coverts steel-blue-black, the latter somewhat glossed with purplish; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts scarlet; tail-feathers glossy steel-blue; chin white; throat 

 and fore-neck scarlet, encircled by a dull black stripe, beginning as a moustachial 

 streak, running down along the sides of the neck and forming a rather broad black 

 band across the chest, continued along the middle of the breast as a black stripe; 

 breast, flanks, abdomen, thighs, under tail-coverts and under wing-coverts 

 creamy-white; edge of wing dull black; bill and feet black (Biittikofer). Wing 

 52 mm; tail 27; tarsus 18; culmen 9 (Biittik. 1). 



"Iris dark brown; bill black; mandible grey, palest at base ; feet and claws very 

 dark grey, almost black" (Everett 2). 



Female. Above slaty oHve; wings dusky glossed with bluish and edged with the colour of 

 the upper parts; rump and upper tail-coverts impure flame-scarlet; below creamy 

 white, grey on sides of breast, passing into the coloiu- of the upper parts on sides 

 of neck and face; under wing-coverts white, rectrices blackish; "basal portion 

 of maxilla and two-thirds of mandible dull orange": Everett (Q, Djampea Id., Dec. 

 1895: Everett — C 14877). 



