Birds of Celebes: Sturnidae. 569 



The genus Scissirostnim is peculiar to Celebes, with Peling and Banggai, 

 and is one of the most striking types of the island. The present species, the 

 only one known, is a very common bird in the Minahassa, where, as Mr. 

 Wallace (c 7) writes, it occurs "in flocks about the hill-plantations, often set- 

 tling on dead trees, in the holes of which it builds, and keeping up a loud and 

 almost continuous chirping". They cling to the tree-trunks as easily as Wood- 

 peckers or Creepers; their food is grain and fruits (c 8). The Sarasins observed 

 that in the middle of August enormous flocks of these birds peopled the tall 

 red- flowering Eiythrina-trees , which are scattered everywhere in the gardens 

 at Kema. Near Macassar Mr. Wallace found it a scarce bird, and, as mentioned 

 above, the birds inhabiting the Southern Peninsula probably differ racially from 

 those of the North, as is the case with so many other species, and the difference 

 shows how unfrequently or slowly an interbreeding of Northern and Southern 

 individuals of -this active species takes place. The narrowness and mountainous 

 character of the neck of land uniting the Northern Peninsula with the mainland, 

 the mountainous character of the island in general, and the great distance 

 between the Minahassa and the Southern Peninsula are sufficient to make it a 

 matter of no surprise when a naturally stationary bird presents differences of a 

 local character in the North and South. Such differences afford no proof that 

 the South was once cut off from the North by water. 



The chief peculiarity of this bii-d is its upper bill, which is much swollen 

 at the base, so that the nostrils lie in a deep groove with the base of the culmen 

 between them. This gives the bird a Grosbeak -like appearance, and Schlegel 

 remarked (c 6) that the bird seemed to afford a transition from the Starlings 

 to the Sparrows. Briiggemann, who was always observant of ancestral indi- 

 cations in young birds, first pointed out that the bill of the young was distinctly 

 sturnine. Bonaparte (4) placed Scissirostnim in a subfamily with that queer 

 bird Euryceros{\) of Madagascar; Wallace (c 8) remarked that it seemed most 

 nearly allied in its general structure to the Ox-peckers (Buphaga) of Africa, 

 "next to which the celebrated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte finally placed it". 

 As Count Sal V ado ri points out no such affinity is apparent either in the form 

 of the beak, tail, or feet; the bill of Buphaga bears some resemblance to that 

 of the Pigeons of the genus Osmotreron, and Dr. Sharp e makes it a separate 

 subfamily of the Sturnidae. Scissirostrum was placed by Lord Walden (4) 

 between Calornis and Eulabes, to which position Count Salvador! (5) afterwards 

 assented; Dr. Sharp e puts it next to Enodes at the end of the Sturnidae. We 

 are inclined to think that Scissirostnim may claim a closer affinity to Acridotheres 

 than to any existing form, but undoubtedly its position among the Sturnidae is 

 rather remote. The skeleton differs very considerably from that of Calornis. 



Attention has been drawn elsewhere to the red colour of the wax tips to 

 the feathers of the rump. In many birds bright colours such as red or orange 

 accompany a stiff", bristly development of the feather. 



Meyer k Wigleswo rth, Birds of Celebes (^'ov. IStli, 1>,97|. 72 



