oF 3 being constantly met with ; and though the full-plumaged birds are less plentiful, their loud cries, which are heard daily, show that they also are very numerous. and shrill as to be heard a great distance, and to form the most prominent and characteristic The mode of nidification is unknown ; but the natives told me that the nest Their note is ‘ Wauk-wauk-wauk-wok-wok-wok,’ and Jer no is so loud animal-sound in the Aru Islands. aced on an ants’ nest, or on some projecting limb of a very lofty tree, and believe that it contains only one young bird. The egg is quite unknown ; and the natives declared they had never seen it; anda very high reward offered for one by a Dutch official did not meet with success. They moult about January or February ; and in May, when they are in full plumage, the males assemble early in the morning was made of leaves pl to exhibit themselves. This habit enables the natives to obtain specimens with comparative ease. As soon as they find that the birds have fixed upon a tree on which to assemble, they build a little shelter of palm lencenn a convenient place among the branches ; and the hunter ensconces himself in it before daylight, armed with his bow and a number of arrows terminating in a round knob. A boy waits at the foot of the tree; and when the birds come at sunrise, and a sufficient number have assembled, and have begun to dance, the hunter shoots with his blunt arrow so strongly as to stun the bird, which drops down, and is secured and killed by the boy without its plumage being injured by a drop of blood. The rest take no notice, and fall one after another till some of them take the alarm.” The Paradisea apoda, as far as we have any certain knowledge, is confined to the mainland of the Arru Islands, never being found in the smaller islands which surround the centre mass. It is certainly not found in any of the parts of New Guinea visited by the Malay and Bugis traders, nor in any of the other islands where Birds of Paradise are obtained. But this is by no means conclusive evidence; for it is only in certain localities that the natives prepare skins, and in other places the same birds may be abundant without ever becoming known. It is therefore quite possible that this species may inhabit the great southern mass of New Guinea, from which Arru has been separated ; while its near ally (2. papuana) is confined to the north- western peninsula. J may remark that Mr. Wallace’s prediction that this species would be found on the southern part of New Guinea has been verified by Signor D’Albertis, who recently showed me a fine skin obtained by himself on the Fly River far in the interior of S.E. New Guinea. This specimen was a trifle smaller, and brighter in colour, than Mr. Wallace’s Arru specimens, of which I have a fine series. The figures in the Plate, which I and Mr. Hart have drawn with extreme care, render any detailed description of the Great Bird of Paradise unnecessary. Like P. papuana it has the long flank-plumes yellow, and not red as in P. raggiana and P. sanguinea, and it also wants the yellow collar on the fore neck. The female of P. papuana is white on the breast, while in the same sex of P. apoda the breast is maroon brown like the back. The Plate represents an adult male and female, of the size of life, drawn from Arru specimens in my »wn collection. NR =