remained unique until other examples were obtained by Dr. Meyer in the locality where Forsten
first discovered it.
I n a letter written from Menado, Celebes, in March 1871, Br. A. U. Meyer gives (J. f. O.
1871, p. 2111) the following facts respecting this bird :—" I n 1810 Porsten discovered a bird which
Schlegcl subsequently described under the name of Meropi forsleni. Only one specimen was
sent to Leyden, and it has long been a desideratum with ornithologists, both on account of its
rarity and more especially because of its resemblance to another, a West-African, species. In
Leyden every exertion was made to obtain further specimens of M. forsteni, but without avail.
"Wallace did not succeed in finding i t ; and Itosenberg remained some time at the place where
it was first obtained in order to procure it, hut was unable to secure a single specimen. I
have now succeeded in obtaining several examples, both males and females, at the very place
near Burukan where Wallace collected for some time. This lovely bird lives in the dense
forests in places difficult of access, is found on the highest trees, and in habits resembles the other
Meropida?. It does not appear to be at all rare, but is difficult to find, as it retires to the
dense forests. Thus the bird is unknown to the natives, and I only succeeded in procuring it
after infinite trouble."
Beyond this all that we know respecting this species is found in Dr. A. B. Meyer's
further notes published in 1879 (' Ibis,' 1870, pp. 5S, 59), as follows :—" There existed before my
journey to Celebes only one male specimen of (his interesting species in the Leyden Museum,
obtained by Forsten, in the year 1S-10, near Tondano, at an elevation of 2000 feet in the
Minahassa. Professor Schlegel showed me the specimen before I went away in 1870, and urged
me to rediscover it, as none of Forsten's successors (Wallace, Itosenberg, and others) had brought
it home. Mr. Wallace, in his charming book, ' The Malay Archipelago ' (i. p. 129), says, in the
chapter on the 1 Natural History of Celebes,' ' I n the next family, the Bee-eaters, is another
equally isolated bird, Meropogou for•stent, which combines the characters of African and Indian
Bee-eaters, and whose only near ally, Meropogon breiceri, was discovered by M. Du Chaillu in
West Africa V African affinities being said to give a chaircteristic feature to the Cclchcau fauna,
and, besides, M. forsteni being so rare that theCelehean origin of the bird was doubted, I
resolved to do my best in searching after it. I therefore made about a hundred coloured sketches,
and distributed them among the natives, to send away into the mountainous districts, and put a
relatively high reward on a skin. I got the first specimen at the end of the month of May 1871
from a forest near Burukan, not very far from the place where Forsten had procured his specimen
some thirty years before; and afterwards, in June, I found the bird in the richest virgin forest
which I have seen in these regions, on the way from Langowan (about 2000 feet) to Pangku,
where it appeared to be not so rare. I suppose that M. forsteni only inltabits the mountainous
districts, like Enoitcs erylhropkrys, Hemiphaga forsteni, &c; but, of course, I am not sure of
this. I should not say these birds are rare, but only known to occur in restricted localities;
if only these localities are discovered, the bird proves then to be numerous. It is the same with
certain butterflies which have been declared to he rare ones, such as Papilio blumei, P. androcles,
Sec.; they also do not, or at least rarely, occur near Menado, where most travellers have collected,
and therefore have the reputation of being r a r e ; but I found places in Celebes where any quantity
of them can he procured. They are not collected in greater quantities because nearly every one
who travels there does not remain a long time on those spots. It will be the same with other animals.
Of course there arc also animals which really are only represented by very few individuals;
but these are perhaps cither aberrant species, or such as are on the way to becoming extinct.
"The female of Meropogon forsteni has not such brilliant colours as the male, and the
lengthened feathers of the throat are not as handsome. But I cannot agree with Mr. Wallace's
opinion, above cited, as to its nearest ally being in Africa. The species of Xyctiornis of the
Malay archipelago arc its most natural and nearest allies; and Meropogon forsleni gives to
Celebes no other characteristic feature than Nyct'tornis amictus gives to Borneo and Sumatra.
All these are alike related to the West-African Bee-eaters, belonging to one and the same family,
which occupies nearly the whole Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian region.
" There is some error in Lord Tweeddalc's (I. c. p. 42) giving the habitat' Burukan ' on my
authority in a paper read May 2nd, 1871, in London; whereas I only obtained my first specimen, in
North Celebes itself at the end of the same month."
In conclusion, I may remark that M. Oustalet, the Curator of the Museum at the Jardin des
Plantes in Paris, told me that he purchased several examples of this rare bird from a plumassier,
who had received them with other bright-coloured birds, and would have cut them up for plumes
had not M. Oustalet fortunately rescued them from so sad a fate.
The specimen figured and described is the one in the Twecddale collection, for the loan of
which I am indebted to Captain E. G. Wardlaw llamsay.
I n the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :—
E Mtts. Twecddale,
a, J . Rurukan, Celebes.
E Mas. Paris.
a, b. Celebes.
E Mas. Lvgd.
a, <$. Tondano, Celebes {Sr. Forsten).
E Mas. Acad. Dublin.
a. Celebes.