Birds of Celebes ; Sturnidae. 
569 
The genus Scissirostrum is peculiar to Celebes, with Peling and Banggai, 
and is one of the most striking types of the island. The present species, the 
only one known, is a very common bird in the Minahassa, where, as Mr. 
Wallace (c 7) writes, it occurs “in flocks about the hill-plantations, often set- 
tling on dead trees, in the holes of which it builds, and keeping uj) a loud and 
almost continuous chirping”. They cling to the tree-trunks as easily as Wood- 
peckers or Creepers; their food is grain and fruits (c SJ. The Sarasins observed 
that in the middle of August enormous flocks of these birds peopled the tall 
red- flowering JErj/tAma-trees , which are scattered everywhere in the gardens 
at Kema. Near Macassar Mr. Wallace found it a scarce bird, and, as mentioned 
above, the birds inhabiting the Southern Peninsula probably differ racially from 
those of the North, as is the case with so many other species, and the difference 
shows how unfrequently or slowly an interbreeding of Northern and Southern 
individuals of this active species takes place. The narrowness and mountainous 
character of the neck of land uniting the Northern Peninsula with the mainland, 
the mountainous character of the island in general, and the great distance 
between the Minahassa and the Southern Peninsula are sufficient to make it a 
matter of no surprise when a naturally stationary bird presents differences of a 
local character in the North and South. Such differences afford no proof that 
the South was once cut off from the North by water. 
The chief peculiarity of this bird is its upper bill, which is much swollen 
at the base, so that the nostrils lie in a deep groove with the base of the culmen 
between them. This gives the bird a Grosbeak-like appearance, and Schlegel 
remarked (c 6) that the bird seemed to afford a transition from the Starlings 
to the Sparrows. Brilggemann, who was always observant of ancestral indi- 
cations in young birds, first pointed out that the bill of the young was distinctly 
sturnine. Bonaparte (4) placed Scissirostnm in a subfamily with that queer 
bird Emyceros{\) of Madagascar; Wallace (c 8) remarked that it seemed most 
nearly allied in its general structure to the Ox-peckers (Buphaga) of Africa, 
“next to which the celebrated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte finally placed it”. 
As Count Sal V ado ri points out no such affinity is apparent either in the form 
of the beak, tail, or feet; the bill of Bujjhaga bears some resemblance to that 
of the Pigeons of the genus Osmotreron, and Dr. Sharpe makes it a separate 
subfamily of the Sturnidae. Scissirostrum was placed by Lord Walden (4) 
between Calmnis and Eulabes, to which position Count Salvadori (o) afterwards 
assented; Dr. Sharpe puts it next to Enodes at the end of the Sturnidae. We 
are inclined to think that Scissirostrum may claim a closer affinity to Acridotheres 
than to any existing form, but undoubtedly its position among the Sturnidae is 
rather remote, 'fhe skeleton differs very considerably from that of Calornis. 
Attention has been drawn elsewhere to the red colour of the wax tips to 
the feathers of the rump. In many birds bright colours such as red or orange 
accompany a stiff', bristly development of the feather. 
Meyei- & Wiglesworth, Birds of Celebes (Noy. 18th, is97). 
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