270 
Birds of Celebes: Alcedinidae. 
Measurements. 
Wing 
Tail 
Bill from 
nostril 
Tarsus 
a. (0 12254) [( 3 f] ad. Banka I., 20. Y. 93 
154 
101 
69 
15 
h. (C 12255) [o^j ad. Banka I., 18. Y. 93 
153 
— 
64 
15 
c. (Nr. 6245) (Y ad. Manado 
145 
87 
68 
16 
d. (Nr. 6244) ad. Manado, Mch. 71 
147 
91 
65 
— 
e. (Nr. 3809) ad. N. Celebes 
151 
92 
65 
15 
f. (0 12253) [Q] ad. Manado tua Id., 15. lY 93 . . . 
149 
87 
62.5 
15 
g. (C 10866) imm. near Manado, Aug. — Sept 
145 
87 
63.5 
15.5 
h. (0 10865) imm. near Manado, Aug. — Sept 
152 
94 
59 
16.5 
The Aving-lengths of 5 additional specimens from Lembeh Id. and the Mina- 
hassa fall within the above measurements. 
In the young specimen h the tarsus and tihio-tarsal joint is curiously padded 
below with thick porous, yellow skin. This is not seen in the older birds, and in 
this specimen it is about to be cast off. Probably the young have the habit of resting 
on their “heels”, and these calosities serve as a protection to them'). 
Eggs. Unknown. Always two in number (M. 6). 
Distribution. Celebes and the Sula Islands: — Manado tua & Banka Is., off N. Celebes (1ST at. 
Coll in Dresden Mus.), Lembeh Id. (Gruillemard 8, N. Coll.), Minahassa (Wall, c 4, 
Meyer 6, etc.), Gorontalo Distr. (Bosenb. a 5), Pogoyama, Gulf of Tomini (Guillem. 8), 
Paguatt and Posso, Gulf of Tomini (Bosenb. a 5), Togian Islands (Meyer 6); 
Kandari, S.E. Celebes (Beccari 4), Tawaya, W. Celebes (Doherty 13), Sula Besi and 
Sula Mangoli (Allen c 5, Bernst. a 5 — if identical). 
This Kingfisher is, as Dr. Sharpe remarks (1), the most distinct species of 
the genus Pelargopsis. The black bill and the absence of blue on the back 
of the adult bird at once distinguish it from the other members of the genus 
Pelargopsis , about ten in number, which range from Ceylon and India as far as 
the Philippines and TTores and have all red bills and blue backs and rumps. 
Nevertheless, the young of P. melanorhyncha has, as shown above, alight 
blue back, which, it would seem, is soon lost — proof P . melano- 
rhyncha is derived from a form with a blue back. The young of other 
species do not differ appreciably in coloration, as far as is known, from the 
adults. Hartert (13) says that some of his specimens from West Celebes have 
a small red spot at the base of the maxilla; there is a tendency to redness at 
the extreme base of the bill in one or two of our specimens from the Mina- 
hassa. P. melanorhyncha was separated by Beichenbach as a subgenus on 
the ground of a supposed difference of structure of the bill. Like Dr. Sharpe 
and others, we do not find that its bill differs in any important particular from 
those of others of its genus, except in colour. In the Celebes Province Pelar- 
gopsis has undergone the greatest modification, it has lost the blue on the back 
and rump and acquired, apparently, its black bill there. 
Similarly Pudynamis melanorhyncha of Celebes and Sula has a black bill, 
1) See Munn, Ibis 1893, 58, for a similar pad in tbe young Pelargopsis gurial, and Giintber, ib. 1890, 
411 in lynx torguilla. 
