chap, xvm.] OF CELEBES. 429 



The three Woodpeckers which inhahit the island are all 

 peculiar, and are allied to species found in Java and 

 Borneo, although very different from them all. 



Among the three peculiar Cuckoos two are very re- 

 markable. Phcenicophaus callirhynchus is the largest and 

 handsomest species of its genus, and is distinguished by 

 the three colours of its beak, bright yellow, red, and black. 

 Eudynamis melanorynchus differs from all its allies in 

 having a jet-black bill, whereas the other species of the 

 genus always have it green, yellow, or reddish. 



The Celebes Holler (Coracias temmincki) is an interest- 

 ing example of one species of a genus being cut off from the 

 rest. There are species of Coracias in Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa, but none in the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, or 

 Borneo. The present species seems therefore quite out of 

 place ; and what is still more curious is the fact, that it is 

 not at all like any of the Asiatic species, but seems more 

 to resemble those of Africa. 



In the next family, the Bee-eaters, is another equally 

 isolated bird, Meropogon forsteni, which combines the 

 characters of African and Indian Bee-eaters, and whose 

 only near ally, Meropogon breweri, was discovered by 

 M. Du Chaillu in West Africa ! 



The two Celebes Hornbills have no close allies in those 

 which abound in the surrounding countries. The only 

 Thrush, Geocichla erythronota, is most nearly allied to a 



