ON THE GENUS CITTURA.' 137 



difference, which likewise has not yet been clearly recognized by the various 

 authors. But before proving this assertion, I wish to state these differences 

 in these two closely allied yet conspicuously distinct species. 



" Cittura cyanotis, from North Celebes. — The male has the sides of the 

 head deep blue, and no white spots on the superciliary feathers ; it has deep- 

 bine wing-coverts. The female always has white superciliary spots, and the 

 sides of the head and the wing-coverts black or bluish black. Already the 

 young, with bills still black, show these sexual differences in a marked 

 manner. 



" Cittura sangMrensis, from Siao and Great Sangi (both Sangi-Island 

 groups). — Both male and female have white superciliary spots ; the male has 

 the sides of the head and the wing-coverts blue, the female black or blackish. 

 As in C. cyanotis, already the young birds with black bills show these sexual 

 differences. 



" Authors do not agree about these points, as the following quotations 

 will show. First, as to C. cyanotis. 



" Prof. Schlegel (Mus. P.-B. Ale. 1863, p. 22) enumerates male, female, 

 and young, without mentioning the differences. In his ' Vogels van 

 Nederlandsch Indie,' Alcedinidce, 1864, p. 19, this author says that the young 

 males are coloured like the old birds, but with duller tints, and that the 

 young females appear to get the blue of the wing-coverts later than the males. 

 But, as my specimens prove, already the quite young birds show the 

 differences stated above. A male is figured by Prof. Schlegel on plate vi. 

 (fig. 1), and a young bird (fig. 2), without mentioning its sex; but it is a 

 young male. 



"In 1874 the same author (Mus. P.-B. Ale. p. 14) enumerates seven 

 more specimens of different sexes and ages, and recurs to the coloration, 

 under the head of C. sangMrensis, saying that the white superciliary spots 

 only occur in the adult of C. cyanotis. But it is the female which shows this 

 character, and as well the young as the adult. 



u 2 



