PAROTIA LA WESI, Ramsay.

Southern Six-plumed Bird of Paradise.

Parotia lawesi, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, x. p. 243 (1885).—Id. Nature, vol. xxxii. p. 288 (1885).—
Finsch & Meyer, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. ii. p. 375, Taf. xvi. (1885).—lid. Ibis, 1886, p. 243.—D’ Hamonv.
Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xi. pp. 507, 510 (1886).—Sharpe, Nature, xxxiv. p. 340 (1886).—Id. in
Gould’s B. New Guinea, i. pl. 26 (1887).—Salvad. Age. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p. 149
(1890).—Goodwin, Ibis, 1890, p. 151.

Parotia seepennis (nec Bodd.), De Vis, Ibis, 1891, p. 36.

 

Tuts species has been named by Dr. E. P. Ramsay in honour of the Rev. W. G. Lawes, a well-known
missionary in South-eastern New Guinea, who has taken great interest in the natural history of that part of
the world, and has made some collections of the animals and plants of S.E. Papua. It represents in the
Astrolabe Range the Six-plumed Bird of Paradise of North-western New Guinea, but differs from that
species in the colouring of both sexes.

Dr. Ramsay was acquainted only with the male, but both sexes were discovered by the late Karl Hunstein
in the Horseshoe Range of the Owen-Stanley Mountains, and they were figured in the celebrated paper of
Dr. Otto Finsch and Dr. A. B. Meyer, published in the second volume of Madarasz’s ‘ Zeitschrift fur die
gesammte Ornithologie.’ Afterwards Mr. H. O. Forbes met with the species in the Sogeri district of the
Astrolabe Range, and during Sir William Macgregor’s expedition into the interior of the Owen-Stanley
Mountains the Six-plumed Bird of Paradise was found on Mount Belford, at an altitude of from 3600 to
7000 feet. Mr. De Vis, who has described the collections made during this expedition, does not admit
the distinctness of P. dawest from P. sexpennis, and records the southern species under the latter name.

Mr. A. P. Goodwin, who was one of the naturalists who accompanied Sir William Macgregor, states that
he first heard the call of Parotia dawest on Mount Belford at the altitude of 4000 feet. He adds :-—‘* I did
not succeed in obtaining a specimen until we had crossed the Joseph River and had ascended Mount
Musgrave to the same altitude. Here I secured an example of this beautiful bird. Our camp was near one
of their play-grounds, so I had a good opportunity of watching the bird’s movements. It has a strong
resemblance to the Silky Bower-bird (Peilonorhynchus holosericeus) of New South Wales both in form and
habits. It has a similar bill, beautiful blue eyes, and strong legs, and, like the Bower-bird, is very cautious,
restless, and swift. It has also a similar flight. Although P. dawesi does not build a bower, still it has its
play-ground, where a number of these birds rom six to eight) may be found playing together. The play-
ground may be easily known by the colour of the soil and by the clearance of the surrounding underbrush.”

The British Museum is indebted to the Hon. Hugh Romilly for a series of skins of this Bird of Paradise,
and examples of both adult and young birds are now represented in the collection.

Adult male. Similar to P. sexpennis, but a little smaller, and differing in the colour of the metallic
pectoral shield, which is of a fiery golden lustre, with less green than is shown by P. seapennis. The
metallic band on the nape is purplish, with steel-blue reflections, with only a faint lustre of green near the
base, whereas P. seapennis has the centre of this nape-band green. The silvery white patch on the forehead
comes to an obtuse point at the base of the bill, forming a triangle on the forehead, whereas in P. seapennis
the forehead is velvety black, succeeded by a fan-shaped band of silvery white. Total length 13 inches,
culmen 1:15, wing 6°15, tail 5:0, tarsus 2°10.

Adult female. Similar to the female of P. seapennis, but rather smaller, more chestnut above, and easily
distinguished by the colour of the under surface, which is rufous barred with black, whicnens in P. seapennis
the under surface is silvery grey. Total length 9°5 inches, culmen 1-1, wing 6:1, tail 4-1, tarsus 2°0.

The young male at first resembles the adult female. ;

A pair of adult birds are figured in the Plate, from specimens procured by Hunstein on the Horseshoe

Range of the Astrolabe Mountains.

 

 

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