G30 
Birds of Celebes; Ti reronidae. 
have stood in recent land-connection with one another ! But , whatever be the 
cause of its oceanic and wandering habits, it is evident from its numerical 
abundance that the race thrives from them, though, according to Davison’s 
inquiries in the ^Nicobars, the female lays only one egg at a sittings and, one 
cannot help thinking that if the birds would disperse to some extent, wander 
about the great islands, and lay two eggs (as, indeed, Meyer was told they do 
in Celebes) that they would soon overrun the East Indies, causing many weaker 
Carpophagive forms to go to the wall. That this calamity does not happen may, 
with our present knowledge, be perhaps most safely ascribed to the superior 
local knowledge of the endemic Carpophagine species of the large islands 
(knowledge of feeding-grounds, enemies, etc. being their strength), while strong- 
social instincts check the individuals of M. hicolor from scattering and looking 
out each for himself and his partner in a more solitary manner. 
W^ithin the eastern bounds of the range of ikf. hicolor a closely related white 
Pigeon, M. spilorrhoa (G. R. Gray), is found, its distribution being from North 
Australia as far as West New Guinea and some of the neighbouring Papuan 
islands, where, as in Am and perhaps Salawatti, it and M. hicolor occur together. 
Count Salvadori distinguishes M. spilorrhoa by the regular subapical black spots 
on its under tail-coverts, vent- and some of the flank-feathers; also the tip of 
its bill is pale yellow (Gould) , that of M. hicolor dark horn. Whether the two 
species breed in the same localities seems very doubtful, both being of wan- 
dering habits. 
M. luctuosa, which is peculiar to Celebes and Sula, has the quills densely 
powdered with mealy grey, the innermost secondaries being like the rest (not 
white as in hicolor), the tip of the bill yellow, the outermost tail-feathers either 
quite white with a black space on part of the outer web, or with a narrow tip 
of black also. 
ihe plumage of Myristicivora is striking and unusual, white birds being 
altogether rare in nature; Swans, Herons, the Bell-bird are other examples. 
Nevertheless Mr. Whitehead says they are extremely hard to detect from 
under the trees in which they are sitting; but, from the remarks of other authors, 
this evidently is not the case when the birds are seen from a side-point of 
view. From philosophic considerations its tail is of especial interest; when at 
rest the exposed terminal part is black, but. the basal part, which is concealed 
above beneath the white under tail-coverts, is white ')• We believe it is in some 
way connected with the action of light, which seems to affect the pennate feathers 
of the wings and tail more quickly than the plumaceous feathers of the rest 
of the body. 
Another point of interest is the creamy yellow tint of its plumage in life, 
which fades quickly in stuffed specimens. It looks a good deal like the yellow 
tint seen in Cacatua sulphiirea ~ which Krukenberg (Vergl.-physiol. Studien, 
For a similar and more striking illustration: cf. Graucalus hicolor p. 413 antea. 
