PTILOPUS FISCHERI, Brkggem. 
Fischer^s Pruit-Pig’eoii. 
Ptilinopus fischeri, Briiggem. Abhandl. nat, Ver. Bremen, v. p. 82, Taf. iv. 
Pfilopus fischerif Elliot, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 571 ; Meyer, Ibis, 1879, p. 135. 
Dr. Fischer is principally known to science as the discoverer of the beautiful new Pohjplectron schleier- 
macheri from Borneo; but previously to his visiting that country he forwarded to the Darmstadt Museum a 
series of birds from the island of Celebes, amongst which w'ere some new and interesting species. This 
collection was described by the late Dr. Briiggemann ; and although many of the novelties made known by 
the latter gentleman were forestalled by Count Salvador! in a previously published paper, there were yet a 
few which remained and will remain to the creilit of Dr. Bruggemann, and will serve to perpetuate the 
memory of this young and talented naturalist, whose early death was a veritable loss to science. 
The Pt'dopiis fischeri is, as Mr. Elliot well remarks, so distinct a species that it cannot well be mistaken 
for any other member of the genus Ptilopus. In its pale-coloured head it approaches the white-headed 
group which embraces Pt. cinctus of Timor, as pointed out by Dr. Meyer ; but its reddish side-face at once 
distinguishes it, to say nothing of many other points of difference. 
It is a native of Celebes ; and Dr. Meyer states that the Leiden Museum has recently obtained a series 
from the southern part of the island, so that it is in this locality that the species must be looked for. The 
birds of Celebes, are many of them so local in their distribution that it is quite possible that it is confined to 
Southern Celebes alone. 
Dr, Meyer has been so good as to lend me a s])ecimen for the purposes of the present work ; and I append 
a description of the bird, as follows : — 
Above dark slaty grey, including the lesser and median wing-coverts, the greater series brownish towards 
their tips ; quills slaty blackish, the primaries narrowly margined with white towards the end of the outer 
webs, the secondaries margined externally with yellow; tail-feathers green, shot with bronzy green, black 
on the inner webs of all but the two centre feathers ; at the end of the tail a grey band, except on the two 
centre feathers ; crown Avhitish grey ; round the hind neck a ring of slaty black ; feathers in front of and 
round the eye, as well as the ear-coverts, dark crimson ; cheeks and throat white ; rest of under surface of 
body cream-colour washed with grey, the thighs and flanks more decidedly ashy ; under tail-coverts creamy 
buff, mottled with broad slaty grey stripes, bordering the shaft on the inner webs of the feathers. 
The figures in the Plate are about the size of life, and are drawn from a specimen lent to me by my kind 
friend Dr. A. B. Mever, of Dresden. 
