ARTAMIDES TEMMINCKI.
ARTAMIDES TEMMINCKI .
Blue Cuckoo-Shrike.
Ceblepyris temmincki, S. Müller, Ver. Natuurl. Gesch. Land- en Yolkenk. p. 191.
Campephaga temmincki, Gray, Gen. o f Birds, i. p. 283.—Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 172.—Gray, Hand-list of Birds,
i. p. 337, no. 5081.
Graucalus temmincki, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 354.— Hartl. Journ. für Ornith. 1864, p. 446.—Walden,
Trans. Zool. Soc. viii. pp. 68, 113, pi. xii.—Meyer, Ibis, 1879, p. 129.
Artamides temmincki, Sharpe, Brit. Mus. Cat. Birds, iy. p. 15.—Id. Abhandl. Mus. Dresden, Abth. iii. p. 363.
I h a v e already figured several Graucali or Cuckoo-Shrikes in my work on the Birds o f Australia, and have
hitherto been content to Jceep them in the genus Graucalus; but Mr. Sharpe, who has recently classified the
family o f the Campephagidce, considers th at there a re really four genera in which the Australian Cuckoo-
Shrikes ought to be placed, and he arranges the species figured in my work as follows. Graucalus tenui-
rostris should be placed in the genus Edoliisoma\ Campephaga karu, C. leucomela, and C. numeralis in Lalage\
so that only Graucalus melanops, G. pamirostris, G. mentalis, G. hypoleucus, and G. swainsoni remain in the
genus Graucalus; Pteropodocys phasianella he admits to be generically distinct. As Count Salvadori, who
has also studied these birds, agrees with Mr. Sharpe in many of his conclusions, I have deemed it best in
the present work to adopt the arrangement o f the last-named author. Graucalus, as a genus, appears to be
widely distributed, as it occurs not only in Africa and Madagascar, but extends all over India and Ceylon,
through the Burmese countries to Formosa, and down the Malayan peninsula, throughout the Moluccas, to
Australia and T asmania; and one species has even straggled to New Zealand. The members of the genus
Artamides, on the other hand, are not Australian, though they occur in New Caledonia and thence extend
through the New-Hebrides group, New Guinea, and the Moluccas to the Indo-Malayan islands, the
Malayan peninsula, and the Andamans: they are remarkable for very much stronger and stouter bills than
the remainder of the Cuckoo-Shrikes. Both the genera Graucalus and Artamides contain representatives
which are barred below, and others which are more or less uniform in coloration.
T he present species belongs to the uniform section o f the genus Artamides, and is one o f the most
beautifully coloured not only o f the genus to which it belongs, but also o f the whole family o f Cuckoo-
Shrikes, which are, as a rule, remarkably plain-plumaged birds. Its home is the Island of Celebes; and here
it appears only to inhabit the mountains. I t was discovered by Forsten in the neighbourhood of G orontalo;
and Dr. Meyer procured four specimens near Kakas, in the mountains of the Minahassa (about 2000 feet
high). He never saw it elsewhere; so that a t present it is only known to inhabit the north-eastern
promontory o f Celebes.
The following description o f the species is given by Mr. Sharpe in his ‘ Catalogue :■—
“ Adult. General colour greyish azure, with more or less o f a cobalt hue, especially on the wings and
tail, the inner webs o f the quills and tail-feathers being blackish ; base o f forehead, lores, and feathers in
front o f the eye blackish with a blue gloss ; under surface o f body azure-blue like the u p p e r; under wing-
coverts like the breast, the lower series and the underside o f the quills ashy. Total length 12 inches,
culmen 1, wing 5 ‘95, tail 5*9, tarsus 0 '9 5 .” A second specimen in the British Museum collected by Dr.
Meyer had the tips to the bastard wing-feathers and the inner secondaries white, and is probably either a
female or a younger bird.
My figure represents the species of the full size, and is drawn from a specimen in my own collection.