Birds of Celebes: Psittacidae. 
155 
L. sclateri is one of a little group of three local forms — L. stigmatus 
(S. Miill.) of Celebes, L. qiiadricolor (Wald.) of the Togian Islands and L. sclateri 
(Wall.) of Sula, Peling and Banggai; it is, therefore, perplexing to find two properly 
labelled specimens (with sex and dates when obtained) in the Leyden Museum 
stated to have been killed at Bone and ISlegri lama in North Celebes by von 
Rosenberg, and in the case of the second specimen on the very day when a 
specimen of stigmatus was obtained by him there (5). The record of L. sclateri in 
Celebes is very probably due to specimens escaped from confinement, for the Loriculi 
are much valued by the natives as pets and transported from place to place. If 
not, we can only conclude, in view of the highly “local” character of L. sclateri 
and its allies, that the specimens in some way got nuslahelled. 
The nearest known ally of L. sclateri is L. quadricolor of the Togian Islands, 
from which the former differs chiefly in that the adult male has the head green, 
like that of the female, whereas the adult male of L. quadricolor^ as also of 
L. stigmatus^ catamene and amabilis, has the additional ornament of a red cap. 
The commencement (or a relic, as the case may be) of this red cap is indeed 
seen on the forehead of L. sclateri ruber, and sometimes to a small extent in the 
typical form. Mr. Wallace has indicated (a I) the base of the upper man- 
dible as yellow, but this does not seem to be the case in adults, though the 
young have much of the bill yellow. 
The yellow supposed to be at the base of the bill, and the absence of the 
red cap appear at first sight to entitle L. sclateri to be regarded as an earlier 
stage of development from which L. quadricolor and stigmatus, and thence, perhaps, 
also L. amabilis and catamene may have been differentiated. But much may be 
urged against such an assumption: it seems much more probable that sclateri, 
quadricolor and stigmatus were severally differentiated in Sula, Togian and Celebes 
from a form formerly spread over all three localities, and that in Togian and 
in Celebes and not in Sula the males acquired a red cap, in all cases under- 
going the variation independently of one another. That such analogous varia- 
tion may take place appears to be undeniable; thus L. indicus (Gm.) of 
Ceylon, a local form bf the wide-spread L. vernalis of India to the Malay 
Peninsula, and L. apicalis So nance of the southern Philippine Islands have 
both developed a very similar red crown, quite independently as far as can 
be seen. 
In the genus Loriculus certain groups of species occur, and one such is what 
we call the stigmatus-^xovip, [consisting of L. stigmatus, quadricolor and sclateri, 
another is that formed by L. catamene and amabilis, another is presented by the 
birds inhabiting the Philippines. The amabilis-^TO\rp has affinities with L. exilis 
of Celebes, as has been shown, by the shape of the bill and the tail-coverts 
prolonged beyond the tip of the tail. L. exilis has nothing to do with the 
Philippine species, but as is remarked elsewhere, with the more southern forms, 
L.jiosculus of Flores and L. pusillus of Java, which share to a great extent its 
peculiarly shaped bill and lengthened tail-coverts. As to the stigmatus-^ravcp 
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