Birds of Celebes: Sturnidae. 579 



waves its tail up and down. As already remarked it may possibly be found to 

 intergrade with its southern ally, <S. albicollis, somewhere in the unknown inter- 

 mediate countries; Beccari thought he saw this race with the yellow bill-tipped 

 form of the south at Kandari, and Meyer got a specimen at Manado (?) with 

 yellow on the bill, but no such specimens have been met with by other writers. 

 Sixty-six examined by Brilggemann all had the bill black, and we also have 

 seen large numbers, but none with yellow-tipped bills. The white of the breast 

 encroaches in some specimens towards the chin, thus indicating its affinity to 

 Charitornis in which all parts of the head and throat, where not bare, are white 

 like the neck, breast, and abdomen. 



GENUS CHARITORNIS Schl. 



This inhabitant of the Sula Islands has a long tail like Streptocitta of 

 Celebes, but differs in having the face, chin, and throat naked, and the bill, 

 legs, and feet yellow. The plumage of the head, like most of the under parts, 

 is white. 



+ * 243. CHARITORNIS ALBERTINAE Schl. 



Sula Magpie. 



Charitornis albertinae (I) Schl., Ned. Tdschr. Dierk. 1865, HI, 1, pi. VIII; (2) Sclat, Ibis 

 1866, 210; (3) Wald., Tr. Z. S. 1872, VHI, 76; (4) Sharpe, Cat. B. Xm, 1890, 153. 



a. Eulabes albertinae (1) Gray, HL. H, 1870, 19, Nr. 6277. 



Figure and descriptions. Schlegel /; Sharpe 4. 



Adult. General colour above glossy greenish black, with a very faint purple gloss; lesser and 

 median wing-coverts hke the back; remainder of the wing-coverts, quills and tail- 

 feathers black, washed with steel-green on the edges; crown of head, entire hind neck, 

 and under surface of the body wliite; the chin and upper throat, cheeks, lores, sides 

 of face, and all the region above and beliind the eye, including the greater part of 

 the ear-coverts, bare, the skin corrugated; lower flanks, lower abdomen, thighs and 

 under tail-coverts black glossed with green, as also the under wing-coverts and axillaries ; 

 a white feather near the edge of the under greater wing-coverts; quills black below. 

 Total length 457 mm; culmen 32; wing 147; tail 267 (Sharpe 4). 



Distribution. Sula Mangoli (Bernstein I). 



This remarkable species seems to be rather a rare bird in Sula, where it 

 was not found by Wallace's assistant Allen, and it was first obtained in two 

 female examples in February, 1864, by a native hunter sent out by Bernstein. 

 Schlegel, who gives a full account of the bii*d, unfortunately omitted to point 

 out its generic differences from Streptocitta, and Walden believed that the two 

 could not be generically separated. The bare skin on the face, chin and throat, 

 the yellow bill, feet and legs, the white plumage of the head and of nearly 

 all the under surface readily distinguish Charitornis from its Celebesian ally; 

 the first character is one of generic worth, and others will most likely be found 

 if looked for. 



73* 



