HARPYOPSIS NOVA GUINEA, samara

New-Guinea Harpy-Kagle.

Harpyopsis nove guinee, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. vii. p. 682 (1875) ——Id. é& DVAlbert: tom, cit. pr, 805
(1875).—Salvad. op. cit. ix. p. 10 (1875), x. pp. 115, 117 (1877), xii. p. 36 (1878).—Gurney, Ibis, 1877,
p- 435; 1878, p. 87.—Sharpe, Mitth. k. zool. Mus. Dresden, i. p. 355, pl. xxix. (1878).—D’ Albert. &
Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. xiv. p. 28 (1879).—Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool. xiv. p. 627 (1879).
—Salvad. Orn. Papuasia e delle Molucche, i. p. 40 (1880), iii. App. p» 507 (1882).—D’Albert. New

Cinna Sea) eae (1880).—Sharpe, Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool. xvi. p. 424 (1882).—Gurney, List of

Diurnal Birds of Prey, p. 46 (1884).—Finsch u. Meyer in Madarész, Zeitschr, ges. Orn. iii. p. 2 (1886).

 

Tus magnificent bird of prey is one of the most important and at the same time one of the most
interesting of all the discoveries made by Signor D’Albertis during his travels in New Guinea. It
is a veritable Harpy, like the Harpy-Eagle of South America (Thrasaetus harpyia), which it so closely
resembles in outward form that we had great difficulty in finding characters for its generic separation
from the South-American bird. It has the crest differently formed to that of the true Harpy, and the
wing is shorter in proportion to the length of the tail; but there can be no doubt that the two forms
are intimately allied. How such a close similarity has been obtained between two Eagles inhabiting such
widely different localities as South America and New Guinea, the avifaune of which have, generally
speaking, very little in common, is a problem of geographical distribution which our present knowledge
has no means of explaining.

D’Albertis first met with the Harpyopsis at Andei, in North-western New Guinea, and bere it was
also procured by Dr. Meyer, whose specimen was beautifully figured by Mr. Keulemans in the
‘Mittheilungen’ of the Dresden Museum (4 ¢.). During his travels in South-eastern New Guinea
D’Albertis again met with the species in Hall Bay and on the Fly River, and a figure, copied from
the before-mentioned plate of Mr. Keulemans, is given in his work on New Guinea. Mr. Broadbent
found the Harpy at Fairfax Harbour, Port Moresby, and it was also procured by Mr. Hunstein in a
small island off East Cape.

Mr. H. O. Forbes has sent a beautiful example from the Sogeri district in the Astrolabe Mountains,
and Mr. Goldie has met with it in the same region. He says that the native name is “ Duna,” and
he also forwarded to England two white eggs supposed to be those of the Harpy, but they appeared
to us to be the eggs of some large Hornbill rather than those of a bird of prey.

Mr. Broadbent describes it as a ‘scrub bird,” but nothing definite of its habits has yet been
published. Signor D’Albertis shot a specimen on a tree stump, in the act of devouring a kangaroo
(Macropus papuanus).

The following is a description of the specimen procured by Dr. Meyer at Andei:—

Adult. General colour above brown, with a slight bronzy gloss in certain lights, most of the feathers
with a dull whitish edging, more distinct on the feathers of the head and neck, which are edged
with hoary whitish, and form rather a full crest; lesser wing-coverts conspicuously margined with
white, all the feathers dark brown before the tip, the greater series with one or two dark bars; quills
brown, regularly barred with darker brown, the terminal bar broader than the others; tail brown,
mottled with whity brown towards the base, and crossed with seven bars of darker brown, all the
feathers narrowly edged with whitish at the tip; lores and region of the eye bare, scantily baired ;
sides of face and sides of neck brown like the crest, with paler and more fulvescent margins; chin
whitish ; lower throat brown like the sides of the neck, and with the same pale edges; rest of under
surface white, ashy on the chest, some of the flank-feathers slightly washed with brown; under wing-
coverts white; lower surface of quills greyish white, with broad bars of dark brown, breaking up into
mottlings towards the base of the feathers: ‘bill blackish horn-colour; feet very pale yellow; iris
chestnut-brown.” — Total length 30°5 inches, culmen 2°5, wing 16°5, tail 14°6, tarsus 5-0.

In a male collected by Mr. Broadbent the eyes were recorded as dark brown, and the measurements
were as follows :—Total length 31 inches, culmen 2:7, wing 18°6, tail 15°5, tarsus 5:2.

Mr. Forbes’s specimen, a figure of which is given in the accompanying Plate, of about two thirds of

the natural size, measures as follows :—Total length 30 inches, culmen 2:2, wing 16:0, tail 15-5, tarsus 5-5.

[R. B. 8.]

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