480 Birds of Celebes: Meliphagidae. 



the Southern Peninsula, where Prof. Weber first got a single example, to be 

 followed by others from the Sarasins, Everett, and Doherty. It is clearly 

 a mountain species, and it seems to vary racially. Its nearest affinities seem 

 to be with M. sanguinolenta (Lath.) of Australia, a bird of larger size, with the 

 red colour extending further down the chest and the abdomen greyer. 



Myzomela is a well-marked and purely Australasian genus, occurring in 

 Australia, the island-groups of Central and North-western Polynesia, Papuasia, 

 the Moluccas, Timor and Celebes. One of the most remarkable facts connected 

 with the geographical distribution of birds in Celebes, which is not controverted 

 by the present species, is that, when a bird's nearest affinities are with Australian 

 or Timor species, the said bird is always found inhabiting the Southern Penin- 

 sula of Celebes, though not always the Northern; but, when the bird's nearest 

 affinities are with species of Sangi, the Philippines, or the Moluccas, it is always 

 found in the north of the island, though not always in the south. A correct 

 explanation why this is so will clear up much that is puzzling in the study of 

 the geographical distribution of the birds of our Province. 



The Meliphagidae are interesting for the peculiar structure of the tongue, 

 which Dr. Gadow characterizes as "protractile, bifid, each half broken up into 

 numerous stiff horny fibres, so as to form a brush". Myzomela itself has been 

 ably handled by W. A. Forbes (P. Z. S. 1879, 256—278 — a synopsis of the 

 genus), and we cannot do better than repeat the general remarks of this in- 

 vestigator on the genus. ""Myzomela is characterized by its Meliphagine tongue, 

 rather short [about as long as the head^, narrow, and slender curved bill, which 

 is depressed and broadened at the base, rounded and compressed anteriorly, 

 and there finely serrulated on its cutting margins. The nostrils are linear and 

 curved, extending for almost one third of the length of the bill, and covered 

 in by a conspicuous opercular membrane. The wings are moderately long, 

 the 'first' primary short, the 3"''' to 5"" longest and subequal, the G**" longer than 

 the 7*'', which about equals the 2"*. The tarsi are about as long as the bill, 

 rather slender, and covered with 6 — 7 scales in front, the lower ones being the 

 smallest and transverse. The second and fourth toes are very slender, about 

 equal in length, and shorter than the third. The hallux is unusually stout for 

 the size of the bird. The tail has 12 feathers, is short and nearly square". 



"Most species have more or less red in their plumage (not seen in any 

 other Meliphagine genus); but this colour is altogether absent in some, and 

 becomes only a slight tint confined to the margins of the feathers, particularly 

 of the head, wings, and tail, in others. As yet our knowledge of the phases 

 and changes of plumage is by no means perfect . . . The eggs seem to be 

 generally whitish or buff, spotted with darker, red or yellow. According to 

 Gilbert (Gould, Handb. B. A. I, 558) M. nigra, like many other species of 

 Meliphagidae, lays only two eggs [and two, seldom three, are also laid by 

 M. sanguinolenta: North, Nests and Eggs B. A. 222]. The nests are small and 



