Six species of the Hawk tribe are peculiar to Celebes; three of these
are very distinct from allied birds which range over all India to Java
and Borneo, and which thus seem to be suddenly changed on entering
Celebes. Another (Accipiter trinotatus) is a beautiful hawk, with
elegant rows of large round white spots on the tail, rendering it very
conspicuous and quite different from any other known bird of the family.
Three owls are also peculiar; and one, a barn owl (Strix rosenbergii),
is very much larger and stronger than its ally Strix javanica, which
ranges from India through all the islands as far as Lombock.
Of the ten Parrots found in Celebes, eight are peculiar. Among them are
two species of the singular racquet-tailed parrots forming the genus
Prioniturus, and which are characterised by possessing two long
spoon-shaped feathers in the tail. Two allied species are found in the
adjacent island of Mindanao, one of the Philippines, and this form of
tail is found in no other parrots in the whole world. A small species of
Lorikeet (Trichoglossus flavoviridis) seems to have its nearest ally in
Australia.
The three Woodpeckers which inhabit the island are all peculiar, and are
allied to species found in Java and Borneo, although very different from
them all.
Among the three peculiar Cuckoos, two are very remarkable. Phoenicophaus
callirhynchus is the largest and handsomest species of its genus, and is
distinguished by the three colours of its beak, bright yellow, red, and
black. Eudynamis melanorynchus differs from all its allies in having a
jet-black bill, whereas the other species of the genus always have it
green, yellow, or reddish.
The Celebes Roller (Coracias temmincki) is an interesting example of
one species of a genus being cut off from the rest. There are species of
Coracias in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but none in the Malay peninsula,
Sumatra, Java, or Borneo. The present species seems therefore quite out
of place; and what is still more curious is the fact that it is not at
all like any of the Asiatic species, but seems more to resemble those of
Africa.
In the next family, the Bee-eaters, is another equally isolated bird,
Meropogon forsteni, which combines the characters of African and Indian
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