FAM. MEROPIDAS 15 
Characters. Bill long, curved and pointed; culmen not grooved, but a shallow channel 
extends from the base of the maxilla, on both sides of the culmen, for two-thirds of its length; 
feet rather small. The elongated pectoral plumes asin Nyctiormis; the tailis truncated, but the 
central rectrices are elongated and attenuated at the end. In the structure of the wing it 
rather agrees with Nyctiormis. The first primary has half the length of the second and is 
decidedly longer than the primary coverts, the third and fourth are longest, the fifth is somewhat 
shorter, though longer than the second. 
The genus IWceropogon is a torest-haunting bird of sociable habits, living only at consid- 
erable altitudes above the sea. 
Geographical Distribution. Celebes and South-western Africa. The genus consists 
only of two species. 
KEY 110) THE FORMS 
Os 
1. Crown of head, throat and upper breast deep ultramarine-blue . 
2. Crown of head, throat and upper breast black. . . . . . . . . . . M. BREWERT. 
3. Brown of the nape, sides of neck and body shading into violet, the green of the upper 
parts darker . : : ‘ M. FORSTENI FORSTENI. 
— Brown of the nape, sides of neck and body clearer, the green of the upper parts 
bytohteye rs wma rel eee h ae ieee etek oye Aa¥S | a) la eee OMe Neh ORSENTIACEN GRATIS" 
1. Meropogon breweri Cassin. 
Meropogon brewert Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1859, p. 34 (« Ogobai River, a branch of the Camma 
River, West Africa »); cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. Vol. 17, p. 86 (1802). : 
Fig. Cassin, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. (2), Vol. 4, pl. 49, f. 1 (1860); Dresser, Monogr. Merop. 
pl. 5 (1884). 
Hab. West Africa from Gaboon to Loango. 
2. Meropogon forsteni forsteni Bonaparte. (Plate, Fig. 5.) 
Meropogon forstent Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium, Vol. 1, p. 164 (1850) (Celebes); cf. Sharpe. Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. Vol. 17, p. 87 (1892). ; 
Fig. Gould, Birds Asia, Pt. 25 (1873); Dresser, Monogr. Merop. pl. 4 (1884). 
Hab. Northern Celebes (Ruri Kan, Minahassa). 
3. Meropogon forsteni centralis A. B. Meyer. 
Meropogon forstent centralis A. B. Meyer, Notes Leyd. Mus. Vol. 23, p. 186 (1901-03) (Takala Mountains). 
Hab. Central Celebes. 
2. GENUS NYCTIORNIS 
Nyctiornis Swainson, Zool. Illustr. (2), Vol. 2, text to pl. 56 (1831) (type : Nyctiornis amictus). 
Characters. Bill long and curved, culmen pointed, rather flattened and grooved laterally 
for some distance from the base, compressed towards the tip. The rounded nostrils hidden by 
short, stiff feathers. Tarsi stout, anteriorly scutellate; toes rather long, the hind toe stout and 
padded beneath. Feathers of the crown slightly elongated, those of the throat much more so, 
pendent and somewhat attenuated towards the tip. Wings short and rounded, first quill 
