RHIPIDORNIS GULIELMI TERT yp,
VELL (Meyer),
King of Holland’s Bird of Paradise.

Diphyllodes gulielmi IIT., Musschenbr. in litt.—Meyer, Zool. Gart., Jan, 1875 P. 29.—Rosenb. ¢
eee ee OSEDD Cee Oeil

Mermereda75, p. 208.—id. P. 7. S..1975. 4 91+ wen
Nature, Jan ek ; i¢ E Z. 5.1875, p. 31.—id. Mitth. Zool. Mus. Dresd. i, p.3. vl ;
(1875).—Beccari, Ann. Mus. Gen. vii. p. 710 (1875) Slater leer ae oeccee ag) komm eT

| P20 Could ind ere

Guin. i. pl. 21 (1876).—Sclater, Ibis, 1877, p. 493.—D’ Hamony. Bull. Soc. Zool. France
Rhipidornis guglielme tert, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Gen. ix. p. 192 (1876).—Meyer ere
Agg. Orn. Papuasia, pt. il. p. 162 (1890).
mispidornis eg erpe (ee Bp), Cat. B. Brit: Mus. ifi Pp. 173 (1877).—Eudes-Deslonech at

Nat. Caen, i. p. 30 (1880). gen, £
Rhipidornis gulielm II., Salvad. Orn. Pap. ii. p. 645 (USB) Sal, DS 1883.
p. 297.
Paradisea guglielmi II., Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 190, 223 (1883 ).—Rosenb. Mitth.

1886, p. 510.

d 5) ~ J Qi!
» Proc. Zool. Soc. 1886, p. 297.—Salvad

nn. Mus. d’Hist.
Pp. 202.—Meyer, P. Z.S. 1886,

orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, Parole

 

 

Tux present species was first recognized as distinct by Mr. van Musschenbroek, a well-known officer of the
Dutch East Indian Service, whose name has often been mentioned in connection with the vatural history
of the Malayan Archipelago. He appears to have been well aware that the species, when he first received
it, was quite new to science, and he even sent a description of it to Baron von Rosenberg, naming it
Diphyllodes guhelmi tert, after the King of Holland. /

At the same time Van Musschenbroek forwarded the type specimens, with the name D. guliedmi
teri attached to them, to Dr. Meyer, who was then, as now, deeply attached to the study of Papuan
Ornithology, to the history of which he has himself furnished most important contributions. Dr. Meyer
duly published a description of the species, using Van Musschenbroek’s specific title, in the ‘ Zoologischer
Garten’ for January 1875, and on the succeeding page appears Van Musschenbroek’s original description,
contributed by his friend Von Rosenberg. The first description of the species, however, having been
furnished by Dr. Meyer, must bear his name as author.

The type specimens remained for some time in the Dresden Museum, but their ultimate fate is plaintively
narrated by Dr. Meyer, as follows :—‘‘As it is of importance to know where type specimens are
preserved, I add the history of those of Rdipidornis gulielmi tertii described by myself. Having kept them
in the Dresden Museum since the year 1875, I one day in the year 1877 received a telegram from Van
Musschenbroek, who had returned home in 1876, telling me that he wished to show the birds to King
William WI. I sent the specimens to him, and never saw them again. They remained in the hands of the
King, and we never succeeded in recovering these types for science, though supported by the late Prof.
Schlegel, of Leyden; but after Van Musschenbroek’s death, in the year 1883, the King of the Netherlands
delivered the specimens to the Museum of the Zoological Society (¢ Natura Artis Magistra ’) of Amsterdam,
where they probably will remain.” Ke

Very few specimens of this rare Bird of Paradise have as yet reached Europe. Besides the two original
types, we know of one other, which was disposed of by Mr. Bouvier, of Paris, to the Warsaw oe wee
being sent to Poland, this individual was figured by the late Mr. John Gould in his gee of New ore
A fourth specimen was afterwards received by Mr. Whitely, of Woolwich, and was exhibited ata a
the Zoological Society of London by Dr. Sclater on the Ist of May, 1883. This ee wes se
the British Museum. I have myself been shown two more specimens, both of which appear to have passe¢

into the collection of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, who has also another perfect male.
but one were flat skins of native

he British Museum along with a

The price asked, however, was

This makes seven specimens known to me at present; of these all
manufacture, but about two years ago a perfect specimen was offered to t
complete example of Epimachus ellioti and other rare Papuan species.
probibitory, and I do not know what afterwards became of the specimen. |

The home of the species was originally supposed to be the island of Waigiou, RR ich
probably be found to be New (ener: Dr. Beccari writes :—‘ It seeins most ee ee.
Diphyllodes oulielmi tertii should be found in Waigiou, because the type specimen Ca ae ene
if I do not mistake, prepared in the manner of the ‘ alfuros’ of New Guinea, and was acq

but the exact habitat will

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