CH. V FAUNA OP TALISSE 87 



the natives universally recognised these birds as two species, 

 because my experience is that the natives of Celebes uni- 

 versally recognise them as the same bird ; and, moreover, 

 look upon the one with the scarlet bill as the ' lakM-lakki,' 

 or cock bird, and the one with the white bill as the ' peram- 

 puan,' or hen bird. Dr. Meyer considers the parrots with 

 white bills to be younger specimens, and that the scarlet 

 bOl is a sign of age. I -have seen some hens with a bill 

 shghtly tinged with red, and it is very possible that they 

 may have been older birds than the others ; but if the biUs 

 of the hens do eventually turn scarlet, I should think, from 

 the large number of them I obtained without any such tiat, 

 they must change very much later in Hfe than those of 

 the cock birds. The natives call this bird the ' Burong 

 Kakatua,' but this name, it must be remembered, is appUed 

 by them to all parrots and cockatoos in general. 



There are several large bii'ds of prey in Talisse, but, as 

 they have wonderfully keen sight and are very shy of human 

 beings, it is very difficult to get within range of them. 

 The great osprey (Pandion leucocephalus) has an expanse of 

 wing of four feet. I saw several of them hovering over 

 the forest of Tahsse, but I never got a shot at one. The 

 only specimen I obtained was shot for me by the Dominie 

 of Manado in a rather remarkable way. It was on one 

 of the Saha islands in the Talaut group. A small party 

 from the ' Temate ' had landed on the island to shoot 

 birds for me, and the Dominie was armed with one of the 

 Government rifles used by the colonial navy. As we pro- 

 ceeded through the bush, two or three of these huge birds 

 rose from the trees and wMrled round and round some con- 

 siderable distance above our heads, uttering the most piercing 

 cries. The Dominie fired, and at the third shot brought 

 down one of them. Now to hit a bird on the wing with a 

 rifle buUet is at all times a difficult task, but the conditions 



