PARADISEA AUGUST #-VICT

Kimpress of Germany’s Bird of P

ORI oe

aradise.

Paradisea auguste-victoria, Cab. J. f. O. 1888, p. 119, 1889, Taf, li—Salvad, Aco. Onn, Papuasia, ii. p 159 (1890
Meyer, Ibis, 1890, p. 421.—Salvad. Age a gy cor te ae

- Orn. Papuasia, iii p. 241 (1891).—Me |
‘ De be ee USO) Nevers Anhenal k, z |
Mus. Dresden, 1892-93, no. 3, p. 17.—I1d. Ibis, 1893, p- 481, pl. xiii. 5

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Tus fine Bird of Paradise is intermediate between Paradisea minor and P. rag giana.

It has a straw-coloured
mantle, like P. mnor, but in its narrow yellow collar on the thr

oat and in its dense velvety fore neck it is

. . r .
like P. raggiana. The colour of the flank-plumes, however, being of a golden-orange, serves

to distinguish

it from both of the above-named species.
The habitat of the species appears to be the neighbourhood of Huon Gulf in Eastern Ne
it is apparently common in that district, as Dr. Meyer has received several specime
procured by the brothers Geisler, who have made ¢

w Guinea, and
ns from this locality
onsiderable collections in that locality, and have
obtained the egg of the species, of which a most interesting ace

Ibis’ for 1893.

He gives the following note on the species :— The breedin

even
ount has been given by Dr. Meyer in ‘ The

g-season of P. quguste-victorie begins in July,
when the males, in companies of from three to six, hold their dancing- parties on the high trees. Females
a long time no nest could be discovered.
bills, though they generally dropped them again,
the mountains behind Butaueng on Huon Gulf.
generally ceases, and the dry N.W. monsoon
then prevails till the beginning of April. The moulting of the Bird of Paradise begins at the end of October ;
in January the gorgeous new feathers begin to sprout, but it is only

on the wing bearing nesting-materials were often seen, but for
The males were also observed with like materials in their

At the end of October a young bird made its appearance on
At this time of the year the rainy season (S.E. monsoon)

in July that the breeding-plumage

becomes fully developed in its finest phase. The brothers Geisler once observed this Paradise-bird

robbing the nest of Chalcophaps stephani ; a specimen kept in captivity also sucked other eges with avidity.

oe According to the present state of our knowledge, P. auguste-victorieé las only a narrow range along the
borders of Huon Gulf, north of which, in Astrolabe Bay, P. finschi occurs, and in South and South-east New
Guinea P. raggiana, which is represented on the D’Entrecasteaux Islands by P. decora. It appears that red
and yellow Paradise-birds do not occur together, but represent each other. According to the Geislers,
P. wiguste-victorie never changes its hunting-ground.”

Quite recently, Dr. Reichenow has described, under the name of P. maria, a Bird of Paradise from the

| Vinisterre Mountains, which appears to be intermediate between P. minor and P. auguste-victorie.
i

 

The discovery of an authentic egg of a Bird of Paradise is a very interesting event, as it proves that these
birds lay an ege unlike those of the Corvide, and apparently characteristic of the family. The first authentic
| gs appears to have been described by Dr. Pierson Ramsay in 1883, being that of P. raggiana. ; In
1884 Dr. Meyer described and figured the egg of P. apoda. In 1892 Mr. Philip Crowley estulnted
an egg of P. raggiana from South-eastern New Guinea, at a meeting of the British Ornithologists’
Club, held on the 21st of December of that year.
Tn ‘The Ibis’ for October 1893 Dr. Meyer has given a figure of the egg of P. Ge ac with the
following description of it :—‘* The general superficial impression made by these eggs aoe to mind those
of certain Rails, —some specimens of the eggs of Crea pratensis, for instance, having a similar appearance,
The shell is coarse, with fine indentations and single deep pores, as in Coracias; it is everywhere polished
and glossy, except a few of the paler and smaller spots, which are dull and glossless. The ground-colour is
| pale pinkish buff (¢f. Ridgway, Nomencl. of Col. y. 14, but lighter), longitudinally strane and coud over
the greater part of the large end. The darker streaks are remarkable for their length Clots mm, long,
2-4 mm. broad, or even narrower); the deeper-lying spots are rosy grey, tle darker longitudinal sale
mostly reddish brown (walnut-brown, Ridgway, pl. ui. 7), but mixed with lighter and darker tints. as
are several very dark spots, others are smaller and of a glossless brownish yellow; others, Bo - this
same colour are glossy. The small end of the egg has few spots; the pole of the large end is almost
clear of spots. 5 ngs Eee ae
“The form is ovate (Ridgway, xvi. 1), but more lengthened; the size 38% 20°5 anc oX20 mMm., anc
the weight 0:7 er.

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