CNEMOPHILUS MACGREGORII, pm pis.

We oe . :
Macgregor’s Bird of Paradise.

Xanthomelus macgregori, Goodwin, Ibis, 1890, moss
Cnemophilus macgregori, De Vis, Ann. Rep. Brit. New Guinea, p. 61 (1890).—Id. Colon. P

: apers, no. 103, p. 115
(1890).—Id. Ibis, 1891, p. 40.—Sclater, Ibis, IWDIL, yo, 40ML pall, ox,

 

Tuts remarkable form was discovered by Sir William Macgregor during his expedition to the Owen Stanley
Mountains, and was procured at Mount Knutsford, at an elevation of 11,000 feet. The only specimen as
yet known is an adult male, which is at present in the Queensland Museum, but the courteous Director,
Mr. C. W. De Vis, sent it over to Europe to Dr. Sclater, who described and figured it in ‘The Ibis.’

Mr. Goodwin, who visited England shortly after the close of the Macgregor Expedition, to which he was
attached as one of the naturalists, communicated an account of the Birds of Paradise observed by him to
‘The Ibis,’ and gave a description of this species from memory, which is characterized by Count Salvadori
as a “descriptio incompleta.” Mr. De Vis, however, to whom was intrusted the description of the
natural-history objects obtained by the expedition, gave a very full description of the species, for which he
created the name of Cuemophilus. ‘That he was right in placing it in a distinct genus is beyond question.
Dr. Sclater, in his paper on the species, has so well summarized its characters that I cannot do better than
quote his remarks :—

“There is certainly a general resemblance in colour and shape between Cremophilus and Xanthomelus, and
the feet in both forms are large and strong, although this feature is carried to a much greater extent in
Xanthomelus, which has the tarsi much stronger and rather longer than Cnemophilus. In Xanthomelus,
moreover, the scutellations of the front of the tarsus are well marked, whereas in Cuemophilus the scutella
are fused into one nearly uniform plate. The wings of Cxemophilus are much shorter and more rounded
than those of Xanthomelus. But it is in the bill of these two forms that the greatest divergence is
observable.

“Tn Xanthomelus the bill is long and strong, the loral plumes are short, and the base of the bill, nostrils,
and culminal ridge are quite bare. In Cnemophilus the Dill is shorter and not so thick, the loral plumes are
elongated, projecting forwards, and covering the base of the bill so far as to partially cover the nostrils.
Besides this the frontal plumes are elongated and elevated into a compressed ridge, which is carried forward
over the culmen and backward to the base of the very singular thin crest, composed of five or six lengthened
feathers, which spring up immediately behind the front.

“In these last characters Cnemophilus is quite distinct from other birds, but obviously approaches
Diphyllodes. I should be disposed, therefore, to place Cnemophilus along with the Paradise-birds rather
than along with the Bower-birds, if these two groups are to be kept apart. But there can be no doubt that
the Bower-birds are closely allied to the Paradise-birds, and several well-known recent authorities have
united them into one family.”

The figure in the Plate has been drawn from a picture painted by Mr. Keulemans from the type specimen

which Mr. De Vis so kindly sent to England for examination.

 

 
 
  
   
     
 
 
 
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
  
   
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 

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