AW aa aN AY =)

1
t

JIC

q

OG

;

H OK opme ROMO ROMS
INININI
Fhe ied ed)

CHLAMYDODERA OCCIPITALIS,

Large-frilled Bower-bird,

Gould.

eee

ONION

wwe

JY,

f3)

Chlamydodera occipitalis, Gould, Annals & Mag. Nat. Hist. 4th series, xvi. p. 429 (1878).—Id. B. New Guin.
i. pl. 45 (1879).—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. ii. p- 188 (1878).

Chlamydodera maculata (pt.), Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. vi. p. 389 (1881).—Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. B.
p. 11 (1888).

1
wa
@. i
a
nGlie-€,

 

Tuts species was described by the late Mr. Gould in 1875, froma specimen procured at Port Albany,
Northern Australia. He separated it from C. maculata on account of its ‘somewhat larger size and the
extreme beauty of its occipital patch, which is nearly twice as large as in the species mentioned, and is even
of a more brilliant lilac-colour, particularly if the frill be turned up and seen from beneath.”

Dr. E. P. Ramsay examined the type of this species when he was last in England, and came to the
conclusion that it was nothing more than a very fine male specimen of the ordinary C. maculata, and when I
wrote the sixth volume of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds ’ I came to the same conclusion, after an examination of
the type, which had by that time become the property of the British Museum. As, however, the bird is
certainly much finer than any other specimen I have seen, and as its habitat 1s considerably removed from
that of C. maculata, 1 have considered it worth re-figuring in the present Monograph under the name
bestowed upon it by Mr. Gould, trusting to the zeal of Australian naturalists to discover more specimens
and decide the differences, if there are any, between the two Spotted Bower-birds. Mr. Gould never
accepted my opinion about his C. occipitalis, and affirmed its specific distinctness up to the day of his death.
I think, therefore, that it would have been wrong to have omitted a figure of the bird in the present work.

The Plate represents the adult male, and is a reproduction of the one published by Mr. Gould in ate
‘Birds of New Guinea.” He addst—‘ The decorative bower forming part of the illustration is taken from
a photograph of some unknown species sent to me by the late Mr. Coxen, of Brisbane; it may or may not

be that of the present bird.”