864 Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 



Distribution. Great Sangi (Bruijn a 1); Halmaliera (Bruijn a 1, b 1); Batchian, Morty and 

 Buru (fide Sharps c 1). 



Count Salvador! points out that, while this species resembles X.JlavicoUis 

 in all its dimensions, it difiers from that species by its uniform black coloration. 

 He dismisses the supposition that it is a melanotic form, having seen two similar 

 individuals. It is a rare species, and the only examples so far recorded from 

 Sangi are the type, stated by Laglaize to have been obtained by Bruijn's 

 hunters in the Sangi Is, and the specimen in the Dresden Museum labelled Sangi 

 — collector unknown — which we believe to belong to this species. Further 

 confirmation of its occuiTence in this island is desirable, also to decide the 

 question whether it may not be only a melanistic form of X.JlavicoUis. 



ORDER ANSERES. 



In the "Catalogue of Birds (vol. XXVII, 1895) Count Salvador!, following 

 Prof. Huxley, groups the Phoenicopteri, Palamedeae and Anseres in the order 

 Chemmorphae. Dr. Gadow (Bronn's Kl. u. Ord. VI, 4, Vog. II, 1893, 144) ex- 

 cludes the Phoenicopteri, placing them among the Ciconiiformes, and leaves the 

 Anseres and Palamedeae to form the order Anseriformes Mr. Sclater in 1880 

 regarded the Palamedeae as a distinct order, which he places next to the true 

 Anseres (Newton, D B. 820). The Anseres, with these two more or less closely 

 allied orders or suborders excluded, embrace the Geese, Swans, Ducks and 

 Mergansers. These are well characterized by the bill, which is more or less 

 broad and flat, the edges with a pectinated fringe or serrated, the tip furnished 

 with a nail; by the short tarsus which is about as long as the middle toe or 

 less; by the toes, the three in front fully webbed, and the hallux, which is often 

 very minute, not connected with the other toes by a web. Among their internal, 

 etc. characters may be mentioned: the desmognathous palate, with the basi- 

 pterygoid processes placed very far forward, as in the Galli; the sternum with 

 two pairs of notches, sometimes forming into fenestrae; "the tongue is large, 

 fleshy, with the margins toothed" (Salvador!, Gadow); the ulna does not exceed 

 the humerus in length, the wing is short and its motion in flight swift and 

 accompanied by a whizzing noise, very difl'erent from what is noticed in the 

 Gulls, which resemble the Anseres in certain respects. The Anseres feed upon 

 vegetable matter, fish, etc. In many genera of the Ducks the male wears a 

 handsome nuptial dress. The eggs are unspotted and numerous, placed in an 

 inartificial nest, often composed in part of the down of the parent bird; the 

 young are covered with down, and capable of running and swimming immediately 

 after issuing from the egg. 



