428 NATURAL HISTORY [chap, xviii. 



the curious affinities with distant parts of the world which 

 many of them seem to indicate. These points are of so 

 much interest and importance that it will be necessary to 

 pass in review all those species which are peculiar to the 

 island, and to call attention to whatever is most worthy of 

 remark. 



Six species of the Hawk tribe are peculiar to Celebes ; 

 three of these are very distinct from allied birds which 

 range over all India to Java and Borneo, and which thus 

 seem to be suddenly changed on entering Celebes. Another, 

 (Accipiter trinotatus) is a beautiful hawk, with elegant 

 rows of large round white spots on the tail, rendering it 

 very conspicuous and quite different from any other known 

 bird of the family. Three owls are also peculiar ; and one, 

 a barn owl (Strix rosenbergii), is very much larger and 

 stronger than its ally Strix javanica, which ranges from 

 India through all the islands as far as Lombock. 



Of the ten Parrots found in Celebes, eight are pecidiar. 

 Among them are two species of the singular raquet-tailed 

 parrots forming the genus Prioniturus, and which are 

 characterised by possessing two long spoon-shaped feathers 

 in the tail. Two allied species are found in the adjacent 

 island of Mindanao, one of the Philippines, and this form 

 of tail is found in no other parrots in the whole world. 

 A small species of Lorikeet (Trichoglossus flavoviridis) 

 seems to have its nearest ally in Australia. 



