Bee-eaters, and whose only near ally, Meropogon breweri, was discovered
by M. Du Chaillu in West Africa!
The two Celebes Hornbills have no close allies in those which abound in
the surrounding countries. The only Thrush, Geocichla erythronota,
is most nearly allied to a species peculiar to Timor. Two of the
Flycatchers are closely allied to Indian species, which are not found
in the Malay islands. Two genera somewhat allied to the Magpies
(Streptocitta and Charitornis), but whose affinities are so doubtful
that Professor Schlegel places them among the Starlings, are entirely
confined to Celebes. They are beautiful long-tailed birds, with black
and white plumage, and with the feathers of the head somewhat rigid and
scale-like.
Doubtfully allied to the Starlings are two other very isolated and
beautiful birds. One, Enodes erythrophrys, has ashy and yellow plumage,
but is ornamented with broad stripes of orange-red above the eyes. The
other, Basilornis celebensis, is a blue-black bird with a white patch
on each side of the breast, and the head ornamented with a beautiful
compressed scaly crest of feathers, resembling in form that of the
well-known Cock-of-the-rock of South America. The only ally to this bird
is found in Ceram, and has the feathers of the crest elongated upwards
into quite a different form.
A still more curious bird is the Scissirostrum pagei, which although
it is at present classed in the Starling family, differs from all other
species in the form of the bill and nostrils, and seems most nearly
allied in its general structure to the Ox-peckers (Buphaga) of tropical
Africa, next to which the celebrated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte
finally placed it. It is almost entirely of a slatey colour, with yellow
bill and feet, but the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each
terminate in a rigid, glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson. These
pretty little birds take the place of the metallic-green starlings
of the genus Calornis, which are found in most other islands of the
Archipelago, but which are absent from Celebes. They go in flocks,
feeding upon grain and fruits, often frequenting dead trees, in holes of
which they build their nests; and they cling to the trunks as easily as
woodpeckers or creepers.
Out of eighteen Pigeons found in Celebes, eleven are peculiar to it. Two
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