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LYCOCORAX MOROTENSIS, Bernstein.

Morty Island Paradise-Crow.

Lycocorax morotensis, Bernst. MSS.—Schlegel, Ibis, 1863, p. 119.—Bernst. J. f. O. 1864, p. 408.—Finsch, Neu-
Guinea, p. 173 (1865).—Schlegel, Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 191 (1866).—Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Coraces,
p. 182 (1867).—Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 186 (1877).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. Xvi.
p- 199 (1880).—Id. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 496 (1881).—Eudes-Deslongch. Ann. Mus. d’ Hist. Nat. Caen, 1.
p. 47 (1880).—D’Hamony. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1886, p. 510.—Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, il.
p. 147 (1890).—Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iv, p. xiv (1894).

Manucodia mortiensis, Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 17, no. 6262 (1870).

Manucodia morotensis, Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 197, 230 (1883).

Manucodia morotensa, Rosenb. Mitth. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 40.

 

Tue present species represents in the island of Morotai, or Morty Island, the Lycocorax pyrrhopterus of
Batchian and Gilolo, and the Z. odiensis of the Obi group. The restriction of this peculiar genus to these
small groups of islands in the Moluccas is one of the interesting facts connected with the distribution of the
Birds of Paradise.

L. morotensis is also found in the small island of Rau. It is easily distinguished from its two allies by the
white base to the inner web of the primaries.

The species was discovered in Morotai by the late Dr. Bernstein, who gave the following account of it :—
«Like the other species of the genus, it inhabits the thick woods and is rarely seen outside of them. It
generally lives in trees of moderate height, especially where they stand close together, in the tops of which
it hides closely, so that, though often heard, it is a very difficult bird to see. It is most easily observed, if
the hunter places himself in the early morning near some tree on the fruit of which the bird comes to
feed. But even then the greatest attention must be maintained, as the bird does not come flying in hike a
Pigeon, but glides quietly from the top of one tree to the summit of another, lights for an instant on some
fruit-bearing bough, is seen for a second on the outer branches, and then dives into the thickest of the
foliage. In all its ways of life there is very little Crow-like, and it seems to feed exclusively on the fruit
of trees. Its cry is a short, interrupted, monotonous ‘ wuhk’ or ‘wunk,’ which is especially heard in the
morning and evening. My hunters fancied that the note had some similarity to the ringing bark of a dog,
and called the bird ‘ Burung andjing,’ or ‘ Dog-bird.’ ee

Adult. General colour black above and below, the wings brown, the primaries lighter than the secondaries,
and having the base of the inner web conspicuously white ; tail black, shaded with dull green on the outer
web; bill and feet black. Total length 17 inches, culmen 2, wing 8°4, tail 7, tarsus 2.

The description is taken from a specimen in the British Museum, and the figure in the Plate has been

drawn from the same bird.

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