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LYCOCORAX OBIENSIS, Bernst.

Obi Paradise-Crow.

Lycocorax obiensis, Bernst. Journ. fiir Orn, 1864, p. 410.—Id. Neder]. Tijdschr. Dierk. ii. p. 350 (1865).—Schl. op.
cit. ili. p. 192 (1866).—Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Coraces, p. 132 (1867).—Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. iii.
p. 185 (1877).—Eudes-Deslongchamps, Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Caen, i. p- 47 (1880).—Salvad. Ann. Mus.
Civic. Genov. xvi. p. 199 (1880).—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, ii. p- 495 (1881).—Guillemard,
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 573.—D’Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 510 (1886 ).—Sharpe in Gould’s
B. New Guinea, i. pl. 36 (1888).—Salvad. Age. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 146 (1890).

Manucodia obiensis, Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 17, no. 6263 (1870).—Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 193, 230 (1883).—
Rosenb. Mitth. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p- 40.

 

Tue present species occurs in the islands of Obi Major and Obi Lattvo, in the Moluccas, where it was
discovered by the late Dr. Bernstein, who described the species. It has a distinct greenish wash on the
upper surface, and this character distinguishes it from its two allies Lycocorax pyrrhopterus, from Batchain
and Gilolo, and Z. morotensis, from Morotai or Morty Island. The black secondary quills also distin-
guishes the species from ZL. pyrrhopterus, which has brown secondaries, and the specimen in the British
Museum justified me in separating it from ZL. morofensis, on account of the white bases to the quills of the
latter. Count Salvadori likewise adopted this difference, these characters of the wing, to the separation of
the two species ; but when Dr. Guillemard visited the Obi Islands in 1884, he obtained five specimens of
L. obiensis, and of these the four males had the inner web of the primaries white at the base, so
that this distinction from Z. morotensis is not upheld.

Dr. Bernstein states that he met with the species both in Obi Major and Obi Lattoo, but he found
it, like Z. morotensis, a difficult bird to procure, as its home is in the thick forest. He describes the
note as resembling the word ‘ whunk.”

The following description of an adult bird is copied from the British Museum ‘ Catalogue of Birds,’
and is taken from a specimen in that institution :—

**General colour above and below of a dull rifle-green, somewhat glistening ; tail black, the feathers
slightly washed with green on the outer web; quills blackish brown, paler towards the base on the inner web,
the least wing-coverts edged with dull green like the scapulars, the rest of the coverts and secondaries
slightly washed with green on the outer web, the primaries much paler brown; ‘bill and feet black ;
iris crimson’ (Guillemard). Total length 13°5 inches, culmen 1-95, wing 7°75, tail 6°75, tarsus 1-9.”

A female bird obtained by Dr. Guillemard was probably immature, as it was duller in colour and had the
wings lighter brown, the primaries buff, and the iris brown instead of crimson.

The Plate is reproduced from Mr. Gould’s ‘ Birds of New Guinea,’ and the figure represents an adult
bird of about the size of life, drawn from one of Dr. Guillemard’s specimens.

ed EL

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