480 
Birds of Celebes: Meliphagidae. 
the Southern Peninsula, where Prof. Weber first got a single example, to be 
followed by others from the Sarasins, Everett, and Doherty. It is clearly 
a mountain species, and it seems to vary racially. Its nearest affinities seem 
to be with M. smguinolenta (Lath.) of Australia, a bird of larger size, with the 
red colour extending further down the chest and the abdomen greyer. 
Myzomela is a well-marked and piu’ely Australasian genus, occumng in 
Australia, the island-groups of Central and North-western Polynesia, Papuasia, 
the Moluccas, Timor and Celebes. One of the most remarkable facts connected 
with the geographical distribution of birds in Celebes, which is not controverted 
by the present species, is that, when a bird’s nearest affinities are with Australian 
or Timor species, the said bird is always found inhabiting the Southern Penin- 
sula of Celebes, though not always the Northern; but, when the bird’s nearest 
affinities are with species of Sangi, the Philippines, or the Moluccas, it is always 
found in the north of the island, though not always in the south. A correct 
explanation why this is so will clear up much that is puzzling in the study of 
the geographical distribution of the birds of our Province. 
The Meliphagidae are interesting for the peculiar structure of the tongue, 
which Dr. Gadow characterizes as “protractile, bifid, each half broken up into 
numerous stiff horny fibres, so as to form a brush”. Myzomela itself has been 
ably handled by W. A. Porbes (P. Z. S. 1879, 256 — 278 — a synopsis of the 
genus), and we cannot do better than repeat the general remarks of this in- 
vestigator on the genus. ^Myzomela is characterized by its Meliphagine tongue, 
rather short [about as long as the head], narrow, and slender curved bill, which 
is depressed and broadened at the base, rounded and compressed anteriorly, 
and there finely serrulated on its cutting margins. The nostrils are linear and 
curved, extending for almost one third of the length of the bill, and covered 
in by a conspicuous opercular membrane. The wings are moderately long, 
the ‘first’ primary short, the 3"^ to 5*’* longest and subequal, the 6**' longer than 
the 7'^*', w'hich about equals the 2"**. The tarsi are about as long as the bill, 
rather slender, and covered with 6 — 7 scales in front, the lower ones beino- the 
smallest and transverse. The second and fourth toes are very slender, about 
equal in length, and shorter than the third. The hallux is unusually stout for 
the size of the bird. I he tail has 12 feathers, is short and nearly square”. 
“Most species have more or less red in their plumage (not seen in any 
other Meliphagine genus); but this colour is altogether absent in some, and 
becomes only a slight tint confined to the margins of the feathers, particularly 
of the head, wings, and tail, in others. As yet our knowTedge of the phases 
and changes of plumage is by no means perfect . . . The eggs seem to be 
generally whitish or buff, spotted with darker, red or yellow. According to 
Gilbert (Gould, Handb. B. A. I, 558) M. nigra^ like many other species of 
Meliphagidae, lays only twm eggs [and two, seldom three, are also laid by 
M. sanguinolenta: North, Nests and Eggs B. A. 222]. The nests are small and 
