PARADISORNIS RUDOLPH] Finsel

Prince Rudolph’s Bird of Paradise.

Paradisornis rudolph, Finsch, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. ii. p. 385, Taf. xx (1885 ).—Finsch
<1 5 oe - = A. (1000 ),—Finse ey

(1886).—Finsch, Ibis, 1886, p. 252, pl. viii—Sharpe, Nature, 1896 D. cit. ti, p. 29

France, xi. p. 509 (1886).—Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. ) ii. p25 (sen) Bull. Soe. Zool
Papuasia, pt. 1. p. 163 (1890). a 97 ).—Salvad. Age. Orn.

and Meyer, 0}
» P. 340.—D’ Hamony,

ee

nis wonderful bird is an inhabitant of South-eastern New Guinea. and i+‘
T , ‘ rm New Guinea, and it is not saying too much to st

: earth, this is one of the most
Accustomed as naturalists have been to the fantastic coloration of the Birds of Parac
Ud alc

: : : : : ate
that, among all the extraordinary birds which inhabit the ae
striking,
: i i kar lise, with their long
ing w or red plumes, no one ¢ awe Cxmacied Ghat a eal aerate :
flowing yellow or rec iD umes, no one could have expected that a bird existed which had blue streamers, as
we find to be the case in the present bird.

The original examples were obtained in the Horseshoe range of mountains by the late Mr. Karl
Hunstein, and they were described in a joint paper by Dr. Otto Finsch and Dr

and. | ae Areas Meyer, the genus
Paradsornis being characterized by the last-named ornithologist, while

. the species was dedicated to the late
Crown Prince of Austria by Dr. Finsch. Mr. H. O. Forbes afterwards met with

: this fine species in the
Sogeri district of the Owen Stanley Mountains, but he only obtained fe

males, and this was the case
subsequently with other collectors. The late Mr. Hugh Romilly’s collection at the

in South Kensington contained a couple of specimens of the present species

Jolonial Exhibition
, which were afterwards given
by him to the British Museum, where they still remain: they were likewise female birds, and the male is
up to the present moment unrepresented in the National Collection.

The following descriptions are taken from the papers of Drs. Finsch and Meyer, above referred to :-—

“ Male. Front and sides of the head, neck, and shoulders satiny black, with a dark yellowish-green metallic
sheen, which disappears behind ; eyelashes long, white, silky ; behind the eye a naked spot; back of head
and nape cherry-brown; back greenish blue mixed with black. Wings above blue, in front brighter, the
lesser and middle coverts edged with bright blue, as also the tertiaries on the inner webs; inner webs of
the wings black. Breast-shield with long feathers, blackish, in certain lights alternately glancing bluish and
greenish, towards the belly terminating in a well-defined broad blue cross band, and on the sides passing
into the ultramarine of the ornamental plumes ; belly shining satiny black. Under wing-coverts brownish
mixed with dark grey; axillaries exteriorly brownish, interiorly bluish green; under surface of wings
blackish grey, with brighter inner edgings on the primaries and bluish on the secondaries. The ornamental
plumes are divided into two portions : the larger outer ones are rather rigid, and on the underside are bright
ultramarine blue at their bases and pass into lilac; on their uppersides, 7. e. on the hinder sides, they are
shining brown ; the shafts of these feathers above at their bases are white, with the end half brown, below
they are entirely bright brown. The smaller inner ornamental plumes, which are in part strongly curved
inwards, are bright blue at their base, in the middle portion ultramarine or cobalt-blue, passing towards the
apices into bright greenish blue ; upon the smaller ornamental plumes lie as coverts a row of See chestnnt-
brown feathers strongly curved, and upon part of them another row of black feathers. Tail blue above, a
brighter edgings, and dirty greenish at the base; below it is uniform bright blue: two ongtinianian middle tail-
feathers carry at their bases brownish webs on a white shaft; at the end of the ce: tail-feathers these webs
disappear almost entirely, and then again gradually increase to a breadth of half a eee the two Ore
the spatula-shaped tips are about 7 millim. in diameter ; the colour of these feathers is above black, uke
to violet; below black, with alight blue spot at the tip; the shafts are black both alone ue ae “
yellowish white ; feet (in dried skin) brownish horn-colour ; iris (according te Hunstein’s information) brown,

“ Female. Flank-feathers loose and lengthened, on their inner sides ercenish blue ; belly rusty re
o tail beneath with lightly marked shadings,
, loose, satiny

ddish with

dark cross bands ; the feathers on their undersides bluish green 7
which disappear towards the end of the tail; thighs black ; feathers of the upper be long
black, beneath greenish blue; side-feathers of the hinder neck lengthened and erectile. oo.
, by Mr. J. G. Keulemans from the typica
| din the ‘Ibis.’ Dr. Meyer has very
so that I hope that this
The typical male

The figure of the adult male is taken from a drawing made
specimen, when the latter was sent to England by Dr. Meyer to Be HI ie
kindly supervised Mr. Hart’s figures for me, and made several corrections of cone :
Plate gives a more correct idea of the bird than any of those Dee yee » of the examples
specimen is in the Dresden Museum, and the figure of the female has Dee trea oo

in the British Museum.

  

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