459a 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



The difference here indicated is what might be expected 

 on the theory of evohition by natural selection. The 

 birds of Borneo, and of the Oriental region generally, 

 have been developed in a larger area than those of the 

 Moluccas and the Australian region, and having been 

 subjected to a more severe struggle have developed 

 higher and more aggressive types. Hence they are better 

 adapted than the less developed Australian types for 

 the colonisation of a large island, such as Celebes. But 

 in the islets, where the very limited area can only support 

 a small variety of forms, the immigrants from the Austra- 

 lian region find conditions suitable to them, and they 

 thus come to form a more prominent feature of the bird- 

 population than in the main island. 



Isolated Bird-types in Celebes. — It is, however, when 

 we take note of the peculiar genera that we find the most 

 interesting features of Celebes ornithology, some of them 

 affording indications of great antiquity and long isolation. 

 Four of these are considered by Dr. Meyer to be especially 

 remarkable, and distinct from all known birds. These 

 are: (1) the large and handsome Megacephalon, dis- 

 tinguished by its horny crest and rosy under surface from 

 all the other mound-makers ; (2) the curious forest king- 

 fisher Cittura, whose rosy and lilac colours on the head 

 and throat resemble those of some of the butterflies of 

 the same island. These two birds have their nearest 

 allies in New Guinea. (3) Then we have Streptocitta, a 

 bird something like a magpie, but intermediate in struc- 

 ture between the crows and starlings ; while the Scissiros- 

 trum (4) is a small bird with a thick curiously formed bill 

 and peculiar ashy plumage, a very isolated form of 

 starling, with no near relations in any part of the 

 world. 



Hardly less isolated are the small hornbill, Rhabdotor- 

 rhinus, whose only ally is the Philippine genus Penelopides, 

 which may itself have been originally derived from 

 Celebes. A remarkable bee-eater, Meropogon, is perhaps 

 allied to the Malayan Nyctiornis. The small forest 

 kingfisher, Ceycopsis, is somewhat intermediate between 

 the Malayan Ceyx and the African Ispidina. A honey- 



