CRASPEDOPHORA MAGNIFICA.
New-Guinea Rifle-bird.

Le Proméfil, Levaill. Ois. de Parad. p. 36, pl. 16 (1806).—Less. H. N. Ois. Parad. pl. 29 (1835).

Falcinellus magnificus, Vieill. N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxviii. p. 167, pl. G80. no. 3 (1818).

Epimachus splendidus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiv. p- 77 (1826).

Epimachus magnificus, Wagler, Syst. Av., Epimachus, sp. 10 (1827).—Cuvier, Régne Anim. 1829, p. 440.—Less.
Cent. Zool. p. 22, pls. 4, 5 (1830).—Id. Ois. Parad. Syn. p. 27 (1835).—Id. H. N. Ois. Parad. p. 218,
pls. 32-34 (1835).—Bp. Consp. i. p. 412 (1850).—Gray, P. Z.S. 1859, p. 155.—Schl. J. f. O. 1861, p.
386; id. Mus. P. B., Coraces, p. 96 (1867).

Craspedophora magnifica, Gray, List Gen. B. p. 15 (1841).—Reichenb. Handb. Scansori@, p. 330, Taf. lexi. figs.
4089-91 (1850).—Wall. P. Z. S. 1862, p. 160.—Rosenb. J. f. O. 1864, p. 128.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civie.
Genov. ix. p. 191 (1874).

Epimachus paradiseus, Gray, Gen. B. ii. pl. xxxii. (nec Swains.).

Ptilornis magnificus, Gray, Handl. B. i. p- 105 (1869).

Ptiloris magnificus, Elliot, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 583.—Id. Mon. Parad. pl. xxiii. (1876).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic.
Genov. vii. p. 785 (1874).

Ptilorhis superbus, Beccari, Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. vii. p. 173 (1875).—Selater, Ibis, 1876, p. 252.

Pitlorhis magnifica, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 158 (1877).

 

SEVERAL years ago I described and figured a species of Rifle-bird from North-eastern Australia as Prilorhis
magnifica; and for a long time it was supposed by ornithologists that one species was common to New
Guinea and the Cape-York peninsula. Mr. Elliot, however, in his work on the Birds of Paradise,
pomted out certain differences between these two forms, which appear to justify their specific separation,
aud adopted for the Cape-York species the MS. name of Ptilornis alberti, proposed by the late Mr. G. R.
Gray, after a study of the specimens in the British Museum. Mr. Bowdler Sharpe also concurs in the specific
separation of these two Rifle-birds ; and he points out that in the male of P. magnifica the breast becomes
purple below the double pectoral band, and has not the oily-green lustre which distinguishes the same sex of
P. albertt. 1 must also mention that the metallic lustre on the pectoral shields of these birds is of a different
hue, although perhaps the greatest difference between the two species is exhibited by the female birds. Thas,
the female of the New-Guinea Rifle-bird is entirely rufous on the upper surface, and has the head of
the same colour as the back, whereas in the female of Prince Albert’s Rifle-bird the head is ashy brown.
As is the case with so many of the birds of New Guinea, we know nothing of the habits of the Rifle-bird
inbabiting that region; but we may well suppose that they do not differ from those described by me in my
work on the Birds of Australia. Dr. Beccari states that the egos of the New-Guinea Rifle-bird have been
discovered by one of Mr. Bruijn’s hunters “in the branches of a tree called at Ternate ‘ Kaju tjapilong,’
which is the Calophyllum inophyllum.” He adds, “ At present I have not the eges before me; so I will write
about them more fully another time, when I have been able to examine the man who found them.”

The following descriptions are taken from Mr. Bowdler Sharpe’s Catalogue of Birds.

“Male. Top of head and occiput, centre of throat, and entire upper part of breast shining bluish green,
purple in certain lights ; entire upper parts deep velvety black, with rich dark purple reflections ; primaries
black, with green reflections ; a narrow line of green, red in some lights, beneath the metallic of the breast ;
flanks and abdomen purple ; side plumes also purple, basal half and filamentary ends black; two centre tail-
feathers shining green ; remainder velvety black, with green reflections on their outer webs ; bill, feet, and
legs stout, black.

“* Female. Above cinnamon-rufous, the wings and tail entirely of the same colour as the back, the inner
webs browner ; over the eye a narrow streak of white; lores and sides of face dusky brown, the former
washed with rufous ; the ear-coverts minutely streaked with rufous along the shafts of the feathers ; cheeks
white, the feathers somewhat scaly in appearance ; a malar streak of dark brown on each side of the throat ;

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