LOBOPARADISEA SERICEA, Rothschild.

Shield-billed Bower-bird.

Loboparadisea sericea, Rothschild, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vi. p. xv (1896).—Id. Novit. Zool. iv. p. 169, pl. ii.
fig. 2 (1897).

 

Tue only specimen at present known of this curious bird is in the collection of the Hon. Walter Rothschild,
at Tring. It has been described by him as a Bird of Paradise, but it is apparently a Bower-bird,
though this is a question difficult to settle at the present moment. From a comparison of its characters it
would appear to be related to Loria and Cnemophilus, as it has the nasal aperture covered by a wattle, in
place of the feathers which hide the nasal opening in the two above-named genera. In the true Bower-birds
the nasal aperture is exposed.

Mr. Rothschild writes :—‘‘ The colour of the wattles is guessed from what they look like in the dried
skin, which is said to have been bought from natives at Koeroedoe, on the northern coast of Dutch
New Guinea. This place, Koeroedoe, is not to be mistaken for Korrido in Geelvink Bay.”

The following is a description of the type specimen in Mr. Rothschild’s collection :—

General colour above chestnut-brown, with a slight golden shade on the hind-neck and mantle; wings
rather more chestnut than the back ; quills chestnut-brown, with dusky tips to the inner webs, decreasing in
extent on the secondaries, which are almost entirely reddish brown ; lower back and rump sulphur-yellow ;
upper tail-coverts and tail chestnut-brown; crown of head and nape dusky brown, contrasting slightly
with the back; the sides of the face darker than the head; cheeks and under surface of body sulphur-yellow ;
the under tail-coverts tipped with chestnut ; thighs reddish brown ; axillaries sulphur-yellow, slightly washed
with chestnut; under wing-coverts and quill-lining chestnut : ‘bill with two large wattles reaching halfway
down from the base, dull blue with yellow tips” (/. Rothschild). Total length 6°5 inches, culmen 0-75,
wing 3°5, tail 2°1, tarsus 1°2.

The figure represents the type specimen of the
I have to acknowledge Mr. Rothschild’s kindness in permitting me to describe and figure the specimen.

size of life, drawn from a painting by Mr. Keulemans.

 

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