il 



(330 Birds of Celebes: Treronidae. 



have stood in recent land-connection with one another! But, whatever be the 

 cause of its oceanic and wandering habits, it is evident from its nvimerical 

 abundance that the race thrives from them, though, according to Davison's 

 inquiries in the Nicobars, the female lays only one egg at a sitting; and, one 

 cannot help thinking that if the birds would disperse to some extent, wander 

 about the great islands, and lay two eggs (as, indeed, Meyer was told they do 

 in Celebes) that they would soon overrun the East Indies, causing many weaker 

 Carpophagive forms to go to the wall. That this calamity does not haj^pen may, 

 with our present knowledge, be perhaps most safely ascribed to the superior 

 local knowledge of the endemic Carpophagine species of the large islands 

 (knowledge of feeding-grounds, enemies, etc. being their strength), while strong 

 social instincts check the individuals of M. hic.olor from scattering and looking 

 out each for himself and his partner in a more solitary manner. 



Within the eastern bounds of the range of M. hicolor a closely related white 

 Pigeon, M. spilorrhoa (G. R. Gray), is found, its distribution being from North 

 Australia as far as West New Guinea and some of the neighbouring Papuan 

 islands, where, as in Aru and perhaps Salawatti, it and M. hicolor occur together. 

 Count Salvadori distinguishes M. spilorrhoa by the regular subapical black sjiots 

 on its under tail-coverts, vent- and some of the flank-feathers; also the tip of 

 its bill is pale yellow (Gould) , that of M. hicolor dark horn. Whether the two 

 species breed in the same localities seems very doubtful, both being of wan- 

 dering habits. 



M. luctuosa, which is peculiar to Celebes and Sula, has the quills densely 

 powdered with mealy grey, the innermost secondaries being like j;he rest (not 

 Avhite as in hicolor), the tip of the bill yellow, the outermost tail-feathers either 

 quite white with a black space on part of the outer web, or with a narrow tip 

 of black also. 



The plumage of Myristicivora is striking and unusual, white birds being- 

 altogether rare in nature ; Swans, Herons, the Bell-bird are other examples. 



Nevertheless Mr. Whitehead says they are extremely hard to detect from 

 under the trees in which they are sitting; but, from the remarks of other authors, 

 this evidently is not the case when the birds are seen from a side-point of 

 view. From philosophic considerations its tail is of especial interest; when at 

 rest the exposed terminal part is black, but the basal part, which is concealed 

 above beneath the white under tail-coverts, is white '). We believe it is in some 

 way connected with the action of light, which seems to affect the pennate feathers 

 of the wings and tail more quickly than the plumaceous feathers of the rest 

 of the body. 



Another point of interest is the creamy yellow tint of its j^luniage in life, 

 which fades quickly in stuffed specimens. It looks a good deal like the yellow 

 tint seen in Cacatua sulphurea ,^ which Krukenberg (Vergl.-physiol. Studien, 



1) For a similar and more striking illustration: cf. Graucalus hicolor jj. 413 antea. 



