Birds of Celebes: Sturnidae. 
563 
Figures and descriptions. Temminck al\ Hombron & Jacquinot ft J; Gould cl, 3\ 
Salvador! 7, Sharpe 12. 
Adult. Black, glossed with metallic gi-een; quills and tail more dusky; head above, 
mantle and jugulum glossed with auricula-purple, the middle of the mantle with 
green; cervical collar glossed with metallic green, like the remaining upper- and 
under-parts; wing 104 mm; tail 94; tarsus 21; bill from nostril 12 (Q, Ansus, 
Jobi, April 1893: Meyer — 0 10976). 
Bill and feet black; iris vermilion (Gld. 3). 
Sex. The sexes are similarly coloured. 
Young. Similar to the adult above, but with less metalhc gloss; cheeks and under surface 
of body wliite, streaked with greenish black on the lower throat, fore neck, sides of 
body, flanks and under tail-coverts (Sharpe 12). 
Eggs. 2, sometimes 3; bluish grey, speckled with reddish pink, chiefly at the larger end; 
size 25 X 2;0 mm (N. Australia — McGillivray 3). 3 or 4 in number, some 
roundish, others elongate; greenish white with bright reddish brown spots and dots, 
more numerous towards the large end; 26.5 X 19.5 mm (N. Australia Ramsay 5, 11]. 
Nest. Pensile, averaging trvo feet in length by one in breadth, somewhat oval in form, taper- 
ing above to a neck, by which it is) suspended; the opening in the centre of the 
widest part. Built of pieces of the stem and the long tendrils of a climbing plant 
(Cis.‘<us), matted and woven together, lined with finer pieces of the same, a few leaves 
(generally strips of Pandatms-\%&t), the hair-lUce fibres of a palm (Caryota c&rms), 
and similar materials (McGill. 3). 
Distribution. Sula Islands (Wallace 2, 12]\ Moluccas and Papuasia as far as New Guinea, 
the New Britain gi‘Oup, the Solomons, North Australia and, occasionally (10), New 
South Wales (Salvador! 7, 13). 
In his original account of this species, Temminck indicated its habitat as 
Celebes and Timor. Later two specimens collected by Rosenberg were brought 
forward by Briiggemann, though with some doubt [6, p. 100), as proof of the 
occurrence of the bird in Celebes; but W. Blasius, who afterwards examined 
one of them, found that no locality was mentioned on the label. Another 
specimen in the Senckenberg collection (15) at Frankfort is labelled “Celebes”, 
but we suppose this may be traced to Temminck’s original error. The species can- 
not, therefore, be admitted into the Celebes list without further evidence. Sula birds 
are’ identified with C.metaUica by Wallace and Sharpe, after specimens ob- 
tained by Allen in the Sula Islands. The present species may be dmtinguished 
from C. panayensis, C. p. sanffiremis, sulaensis, and minor, which occur in one part 
or another of the Celebesian Province, by its strongly graduated tail, the two 
middle feathers overreaching the next by about 25mm; the fine auricula-purple 
on the head, mantle and jugulum also render it easily recognisable. 
A close investigation of C. metallica would probably bring to light many 
local variations of insufficient stability to justify their being scientifically removed 
from the first - discovered race and concealed from the eyes of general know- 
ledge under the mask of specific names. A new comparison of such forms as 
C nitida Gray, of New Britain, C. ciramA'cnjifa Meyer, of limorlaut, C. mornata 
Salv of Mysore, C . purpureiceps Salv., of the Admiralty Islands, C. fuscovirescens 
