Birds of Celebes: Falconidae. 
79 
This species ranges from Timoiiaut and the Moluccas as far as Borneo, 
but it varies locally within this area, the extremes of difference being found in 
Halmahera on the one side, and in Celebes and the Lesser Sunda Islands on 
the other, while some of the Moluccas, such as Bum and apparently Amboina 
(which furnished the type of the species) are inhabited by birds which seem to 
be intermediate. A little consideration will make it clear that there is no good 
purpose served by applying trinomials to the forms intermediate between two 
races — such names are not only useless and cumbersome, but also misleading 
since they bring with them the idea: here the species has developed into a 
pronounced race! The only places where trinomials may be employed without 
damage are where the extreme racial variations are found. In the case of the 
present species there is no typical subspecies. The extremes and means, as at 
present understood, may be identified in the following manner: 
1. Tinnunculus moluccensis orientalis n. subsp. 
e. Falco moluccensis (I) ScliL, Valkv. Ned. Ind. 1866. 6, 47, pi. I, f. 3 (Halmahera). 
Diagnosis. Under surface darker; cheeks fulvous-brown; under wing-coverts pale fulvescent 
brown, spotted with black. 
Distribution. Halmabera-group : Habnabera, Morty, Ternate, ? Kaiva, Mareb, Tidore, Batchian. 
H 2. Tinnunculus moluccensis occidentalis M. & Wg. 
f. Falco moluccensis (I) Schl., Valkv. Ned. Ind. 1866, 6, 48, pi. 1, figs. 4, 5. 
g. Tinnunculus moluccensis occidentalis (1) M. & Wg., Abb. Mus. Dresd. 1896, Nr. 2, p. 8; 
(2) Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1896,'l62, 178, 589, 597; (3) id. ib. 1897, 159. 
“Sikep burik mera”, Minabassa, Nat. Coll. 
“Sikep tarak take”, Tondano, N. Celebes, Nat. Coll, (the young of Spilosinzias trmotatus 
and of Accipiter rhodogaster are confused with the present bbd under this name). 
“Oopo”, Grorontalo, Joest, Holontalo 1883, p. 106. 
“Zere zere”, Tjamba, 8. Peninsula, Platen 11. 
Diagnosis. Under surface paler; cheeks albescent-grey; under wing-coverts wliite, sparingly 
marked with black spots. 
Distribution. Celebes, Borneo (Scbwaner), Java (Whitehead g 2), Lombok (Yorderman 
d 5, Everett g 2], Sumba (Piedel 5, Doherty g 2), Flores, Letti (?), Timor, 
TimWaut (?). 
3. T. moluccensis orientalis — occidentalis. 
Diagnosis. Connecting links. 
Distribution. Amboina, Burn, Ceram, Goram, Peling. 
General description : 
Adult female. Above russet, the feathers of the head streaked with black, those of the 
back and wings plentifully marked with cross-bars and triangular spots of black; 
quills blackish with light margins, inner webs barred with russet; tail and upper 
tail-coverts smoke-grey, the former crossed with a broad sub terminal band of black and 
marked with 1 — 9 narrow, more or less obsolete, bars; tip whitish; under surface 
brownish fawn-colour, throat, thighs and under tail-coverts paler, breast, sides and 
