DOMICELLA COCCINEA. 125 



Dr. Finsch says (Papag. ii. p. 800) : — 



" DoMicELLA COCCINEA (Latham). Der blaubrilstige Breitschwanzlori. 



" Variety. Wings green. 



" Diagnosis. Carmine red. Breast, mantle, lower back of the neck, 

 stripe across the middle of the crown of the head, and on each side a stripe 

 from the eyes up to the region of the ear fine blue ; tail, spot on the thigh, 

 and shoulders violet-black. .... 



" According to a former note in the Leiden Museum, Halmahera would 

 be the fatherland of this splendid species. Dr. Forsten sent specimens from 

 there, but which were evidently bought. Neither Dr. Bernstein nor Wallace 

 saw this bird on Halmahera. But Wallace collected it on the small island- 

 group of the Sanghir Islands (Siao and Sanguir), about five geographical 

 miles north from Celebes ; and this situation is to be considered the sole 

 certain locality to the present time. Professor Schlegel doubts it, because 

 he did not find a single specimen of D. coccinea in a large collection of 

 bird-skins which the Leiden Museum received in the year 1864 from there. 

 He supposes that the real habitat will be found to be more to the east, 

 perhaps on the group of Karekelang. But for me the reason that the Dutch 

 travellers did not find the bird on the Sanghir Islands is not a sufficient one 

 for considering Wallace's notice erroneous. According to a communication 

 which I received in a letter from Mr. von Rosenberg, this bird inhabits 

 the Talaut Islands, in the north of Sanghir. 



" Von Rosenberg formerly enumerated this species only from Hal- 

 mahera ; but this island was not visited by himself Dr. Bernstein has 

 already called this notice a totally erroneous one. 



" I prefer the somewhat later name of Latham (^coccineus) to that of 

 Gmelin (indicus), because names which have a geographical signification 

 ought to be right, or they totally mislead. 



" The ' Indian Lory, var. a,' of Latham, described in the ' General 

 History,' I consider to be a variety of this species, notwithstanding the 



