Birds of Celebes: Museicapidae. 
381 
visible on the under surface as on the upper, while in all the other species 
the tail, when closed, hardly shows any red region beyond the under 
tail-coverts”. 
In his careful description Mr. Biittikofer remarks: “The shafts of the 
tail-feathers have the color of the accompanying parts of their webs, but the 
red of the basal part runs, though not very far, into the black terminal third”. 
This seems at first sight to show that the red pigment is on the increase and 
is supplanting the black. Were the black, on the other hand, to encroach into 
the red it might be inferred with some degree of reason that the extent of red 
on the tail had once been greater than at present. But it may be that a con- 
tradiction to this is presented by the young, which is more suffused with 
cinnamon-red, and this colour is seen all along the shaft to the tip of the tail 
and dimly against the blackish web alongside the shaft for its terminal fourth. 
The young plumage of birds is often supposed to be more ancient than the adult 
plumage; if so, the tail of R. teijsmanni is increasing in blackness on its distal 
end, and the cinnamon is receding towards the base. But such questions are 
hardly for the present generation. 
The genus Rkipidura is unquestionably Australasian in type. Of Mr. 
Biittikofer’s 75 species 62 belong to the Australian Region, including the 
Lesser Sunda Islands. The remaining range from the Philippines, Celebes and 
the other Great Sunda Islands to the Himalayas. The Papuan Islands — 24 
species, and the Lesser Sunda Islands — 10 species — are by far the richest 
in forms, and it is here, possibly, that the genus originated. We infer that 
its distribution took place mainly, if not entirely by flight, from the fact that 
numerous species are found in the volcanic islands of Central and North-west 
Polynesia, and that of two Indian species Mr. Biittikofer places one between 
species of New Guinea and Piji, the other between species of New Guinea and 
the Solomon Islands. Consequently the genus cannot be taken into consideration 
on the question of the former distribution of land and water in the East Indies, 
nor can the two Celebesian species be regarded as trustworthy links between 
Celebes, Timor and Australia, though like Cacatua sulphurea and Circus assimilis 
they probably reached Celebes from those countries. 
On R. teijsmanni the Sarasins write: “It is very plentiful on the whole 
Peak of Bonthain up to great elevations, 1500 m and more, and indeed a 
characteristic bird. It flies in pairs and quietly allows itself to be watched. The 
tail is carried spread out, like a fan”. 
Rhipidura lenzi W.Blas. The habitat of this species was originally indicated 
by Lenz (J. f. O. 1877, 374) as North Celebes, and in 1883 it was found to 
be new and was described by W. Blasius (J. f. O. 1883, 145). The correctness 
of the habitat was questioned by Meyer (Isis 1884, 26), and the same year 
