CHAP, xnii.] 



OF CELEBES. 



273 



characterised by possessing two long spoon-shaped feathers 

 in the tail Two allied species are foimd in the adjacent 

 island of Mindanao, one of the Pliilippines, and this form 

 of tail is found in no other parrota in the wliole world 

 A small species of Lorikeet (Trichoglossiis flavoviridis) 

 seems to have its nearest ally in Australia. 



The three "Woodpeckers which inhabit the island are aU 

 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. Phosnicophaiis callirhynchus is the largest and 

 handsomest species of its genus, and is distinguished by 

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

 EudjTiamis melanorynehus 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 Roller (Coracias temmincM) is an interest- 

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

 rest There are species of Coracias in Eur^jpe^ Asia, and 

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

 Borneo. The present species seems tlierefore 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 bi'eweri, was discovered liy 

 M. Du Chain u in AVest Africa ! 



7'he two Celebes Honibills have no close allies in those 

 which abound in the surroundmg countries. The only 

 Thrush, Geocichla erythronota, is most nearly allied to a 

 species peculiar to Timor. Two of the Flycatchers are 

 closely allied to Indian species which are not found in the 

 Malay islands. Two genera somewhat allied to the Mag- 

 pies (Streptocitta and Charitomis), but whose affinities are 

 ao doubtful that Professor Schlegel places them among 

 the Starlings, are entirely confined to Celebes. They are 

 beautiful long-tailed birds, with black and white plumage, 

 and with the feathers of the head somewhat rigid and 

 scale-like. 



