442 
Birds of Celebes: Dicaeidae. 
Adult male. Above purplish steel blue-black; quills and sides of head more dusky; sub- 
malar region concolorous with bead; chin, throat and jugulum scarlet; sides 
of body dusky grey, washed with olivaceous; lower breast, abdomen and under 
tail-coverts ochraceous buff, a broad mesial stripe of blackish on breast, the under 
tail-coverts with blackish central streaks; under wing-coverts and axillaries 
white; edge of wing black; inner edging of quills below pale (cf. Macassar, 
3. X. 95: Sarasin Coll.). Iris brown; bill, feet and claws black (Meyer 12, Platen 16). 
Young male. Without the scarlet throat: above greyish seal-brown, washed with bistre on 
the rump; breast and sides paler and more olivaceous grey; throat, abdomen 
and under tail-coverts yellowish white; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, 
edge of wing freckled with dusky; quills and tail blackish (Macassar, cf, Jan. 1873, 
Meyer — C 442). Bill reddish yellow (12). 
Variation. The scarlet tint of the throat varies in intensity. With age the grey on the 
sides and breast seems to grow blacker and to become moi’e extended over the sur- 
face. Two males from Macassar (0 440, C 441), killed in January and perhaps not quite 
fully adult, have the black on the under surface much less in extent than in a 
specimen from Banka (May) and a second from Manado tua (April) — islands off 
the coast of X. Celebes. Tlie gloss on the upper surface is sometimes pre-eminently 
steel-blue, occasionally more coppery (Banka Id.); between such birds gradual trans- 
itions are found. 
One or two specimens from the Minahassa, apparently fine old adult males, 
liave the broad black stripe along the middle of the breast glossed with the steel-blue 
of the upper surface. 
Female. Above dark brownish slaty glossed with lilac; upper tail-coverts and tail blue- 
black, as in the male; below buff, olive-green on the sides and flanks, olive-grey on 
the sides of the breast, darker on the face. Size smaller than the male: wing 45 mm. 
($, Eurukan, X. Cel., 2. XL 94: Sarasin Coll.) 
Measurements. 
Wing 
Tail 
BUI from 
ant. nostr. 
Tarsus 
a. (Xr. 7698) ad., X. Celebes 
50 
26 
7 
11.3 
b. (C 435) ad.. Manado, III. 71.... . . 
47 
26 
7 
11 
c. (C 436) ad., Manado, ITT. 71 
49 
24 

1 1 .5 
d. (C 12210) ad., Manado tua, 16. IV. 93 
48 
24 
6.5 
12 
c. (C 12209) ad., Banka, 11. V. 93 
48 
25 
6.5 
11.5 
f. (C 441) vix ad. Macassar, I. 73 
48 
23 
6 

g. (C 440) vix ad. q^, Macassar, I. 73 
49 
26 
7 
11.5 
h. (Xr. 7699) imm., Celebes 
47 
24 
6.5 

/. (C 442) ]uv. Macassar, 1. 73 
44 
21 
6.5 
11 
7 additional specimens (6 Sarasin Coll.) from X. & S. Celebes do not overreach 
these measurements (as to the wing). 
Eggs. “The eggs sent by Dr. Platen from Eurukan in the Minahassa are pure white, like 
the eggs of all species of Dicamm, and measure 13 X 19 mm” (Xehrkorn MS.). 
Distribution. Celebes and the islands off the coast: Minahassa (Leclancher al, Wall, io, 
etc.); Lembeh, Banka and Manado tua Is. (Xat. Coll.); Togian Islands (Meyer 72); 
W. Celebes (Doherty 25); Southern Peninsula (Wallace 15, Meyer 72, Platen 75, 
Weber 19, etc.). 
This Flower-pecker seems to be a rather plentiful little bird in North 
Celebes, inhabiting both the country near the coast, such as the neighbourhood 
