310 
Birds of Celebes: Coraciidae. 
Adult. Mantle, back, scapulars, and innermost quills sage-green, in certain lights 
olive-green, and touched on the borders of the feathers with verditer-hlue; entire 
head above, including supra-orhital region, and upper tail-coverts Nile-blue, with 
a strong turquoise-blue gloss; wings, tail, and rump hyacinth-blue glossed with 
purple, the ends of quills and tail-feathers more dusky, the concealed inner webs — 
when seen held vertically with the light falling on them — bright dark bronze; ear- 
coverts and subocular region brownish bronze; under parts, continuous with 
a broad collar around hind neck, dusky blue, washed on the under parts with 
mauve-purple, and becoming violet-blue on the under tail-coverts, the hackle- 
feathers on chin touched with pale-blue, on throat with light violet; under wing- 
coverts, and most inner webs of quills below, and tail below, hyacinth-blue 
glossed with pm’ple, the outer webs, the adjacent part of the inner webs, and the 
ends of the quills blackish, or dusky bronze, when the bird is held in an inclined 
position, bill lowest, with the light falling on it. (Near Manado, Aug.-Sept. 1892, 
0 10857). Iris brown; bill black; tarsus dirty brownish black (Gruillem. 27). 
Observation. The coloration of the wings of this species is of much interest. The wings 
appear to be to some extent metallic; at all events the purplish blue is seen more 
widely spread on their under surface in certain lights. On the upper surface they 
are purplish blue, except on a narrow portion of the inner webs, probably always 
covered by the superjacent feathers where they are bronze or blackish, according to 
the light; on the under surface the converse is seen — where they are blue above 
they tend to bronze below, where they are bronze above they are blue 
below. The hues of demarkation of the tints, however, do not correspond above 
and below, nor are the colours on many quills — especially on the inner ones — 
sharply separated, but tend to blend with one another. 
Sexes. Alike, but the female less brilliantly coloured (Meyer 22 — Limbotto, July, C 2191). 
Young. Similar to the adults; bill much shorter, but otherwise like; the collar of dusky blue 
round the hind neck much narrower; the pale blue of the crown greyer and slightly 
washed with brown, the tips of the feathers brownish giving an indistinct barred appear- 
ance, the pale blue hackle-feathers of the chin extending further down on to the 
throat (N. Celebes, 0 3597; near Manado, Aug. — Sept. 1892, 0 10858). Iris light hazel; 
bill black; feet yellow-brown (Platen 26 — juv.). See, also, "W. Blasius 26, 
description juv. 
Measurements (8 specimens). Wing 175 juv. — 190; tail 127 — 144; bill from nostril 23.5 juv. 
— 31 ; tarsus 22 juv., 23 ad. 
Eggs and Nest. Unknown. 
Breeding season. One of the young specimens in the Dresden Museum, killed Aug. or Sept., 
appears , to be about six weeks old; hence the eggs would have been laid in June or 
July. Prof. W. Blasius’s (26) young specimens from South Celebes, killed May 13*^, 
must have been the product of an egg laid at least as early as March. 
Distribution. Celebes: — Minahassa (Beinwardt e 2, Forsten 13, v. Bosenberg 13, etc.); 
Banka, Lembeh and Mantehage Is. off the Minahassa (Nat. Coll, Mus. Dresd.); 
Gorontalo District (Bosenb. 13, Meyer 22]] Tonkean, E? Celebes (Nat. Coll, in Dresd. 
Mus.); Kandari, S. E. Peninsula (Beccari 19)] near Macassar (Wallace 16, 31, 
Everett 38)] Tjamba, S. Celebes (Platen 26)] Kadjang, S. Celebes (Weber 32)] 
Bulekomba, S. Celebes (Everett 38). 
The habitat of the species was recorded by Quoy & Gaimard (d 1) as 
New Guinea, which for a long time remained an uncertain locality for it, but 
