. Ornithological miscellany . hsare without rain. I here took a longer sojourn, having chosen the placeas headquarters for my highland trips. The shores of the river of Tondanoare densely covered wdth tropical plants : among others, large tree ferns (tothe left) and bamboo (to the right) can easily be recognized About onehour from Tondano, near Tonsea lama (a small village), the river forms afine cataract about 100 feet in height, which many persons consider to bethe finest in the Dutch possessions ; but I rather prefer the waterfall in theneighbourhood of Maros, in South Celebes, which is not
. Ornithological miscellany . hsare without rain. I here took a longer sojourn, having chosen the placeas headquarters for my highland trips. The shores of the river of Tondanoare densely covered wdth tropical plants : among others, large tree ferns (tothe left) and bamboo (to the right) can easily be recognized About onehour from Tondano, near Tonsea lama (a small village), the river forms afine cataract about 100 feet in height, which many persons consider to bethe finest in the Dutch possessions ; but I rather prefer the waterfall in theneighbourhood of Maros, in South Celebes, which is not so high, but isbroader, and appears always to have a larger volume of water. TheMinahassa possesses many lakes; that of Tondano is the largest, andcontains many fish, but not of many species. Dr. Meyer tells me that the name which the natives of the Minahassa—that is to say, the Alifuros (not the Mahometan Malays, from the coast)of the interior—give to Cittura cyanotis is Kikis talun, talun meaning < Q CO <:o oo oo. O o ON THE GENUS CITTURA. 135 forest. Like Daceloprinceps, this Kingfisher is only found in the forest,not near the rivers of the coast or the sea-shore. One thing strikes me in the genus Cittura, though not pecuUar to it(for the same is observable in Melidora, Dacelo, &c.) ; and that is theenormous strength at the base of the upper mandible. This reminds me of a specimen of a British Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida)which I examined on the 5th of August, 1877. The circumstances of thebirds death were unusual. It had a small jack (^Esox Indus), 4| incheslong, Avedged into its mouth, head foremost. For a Kingfisher to be chokedby a small fish is not rare (various instances have been recorded) ; but inthis case the shock of the bird going one way and the fish the other ( flying impetus and the swimming one) was so great that the skull andone of the mandibles of the Kingfisher were fractured. It was a bird of theyear; both mandibles were wholly black; perhap
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1876
