PARADISEKEA MAR I LK, Reitchenow.

Mrs. Reichenow’s Bird of Paradise.

Paradisea marie, Reichenow, Orn. Monatsb. ii. Dee (1894).—Sharpe, Bull. Brit, Orn. Club

Fa Dee exanil
(is94).—-Reichen. J. f. ©. 1897, p. 222, Taf. v.

 

Turs species was discovered in the Finisterre Mountains, in German New Guinea, at a height of 1500 feet,
and was described by Dr. Reichenow, the type specimen being in the Berlin Museum and, up to the
time of writing, unique. Dr. Reichenow, however, has given a figure of the species in the ‘Journal fir
Ornithologie,’ from which one is able to gather that Paradisea marie partakes of the characters of
P. auguste-victorie and Trichoparadisea gulielmi. This opinion has been suggested to me by the notes
given to me by Mr. Ernst Hartert, who recently examined the type specimen at the meeting of the German
Ornithological Society in Dresden. The extent of the metallic-green colour on the forehead and throat is
apparently the same as in Trichoparadsea, and the dissociated webbing of the tips of the long flank-feathers
is another character in common with the last-named genus. The colour of the under surface recalls that
of P. minor, but is not unlike that of 7. guliehni also. The colour of the long flank-feathers is different
from that of both 7. gulelmi and P. auguste-victorie, but the dark stripes are like those of the latter bird ;
so that, on the whole, it seems to me more correct to compare P. marie with the last-named species rather
than with P. minor.

Dr. Reichenow’s description of the species is as follows :—‘* Distinguished from P. minor by the metallic
green forehead and vertex, by the paler yellow on the occiput, mantle, back, and er and) by the
reddish plumes of the train. Forehead and fore part of crown, as well as the lores and fore-part of cheeks
and throat, metallic green; hind part of the head, nape, back, and lesser wing-coverts pale Sttaw-yellow,
lighter than in P. minor; greater wing-coverts only narrowly washed ae a on thets edges, not
yellow on the entire outer web or for the greater part of the feather, as in P. PAG 5 a slightly ee
with straw-yellow. The brown colour on the wings, tail, and under surface of body eae lls: that of
P. minor. The ornamental feathers on the flanks have a yellow ground-colour, washed with brownish red
on the outer web, and especially on the inner one, afterwards becoming white with a ae ae
then pure white at the tips; the shafts are partly yellow, partly reddish brown and ae at pee a :
Some of the outer flank-plumes have a brownish-red outer edge YBa pS base, and te Poe i ae
spread feathers a continual red longitudinal stripe, whereas in P. minor it is formed of ee a ee
stripes of dark chestnut-brown. Owing to the mixture of velit and brownish red as ee ce
ornamental plumes has a kind of greyish-violet appearance. It 1s wonthy of remark that - ae oe
plumes are more close-set, as in P. minor; the single barbs show broad intervals, an those a t ee a /
feathers are without any trace of barbs. Total length 14 inches, wing 7°25, tail 5°95, bill oe og .

As there is no specimen of this Bird of Paradise in England, I have been unable to give a figure of It.

STEN TaN

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