PHONYGAMA. 



33 



"Ta) IKE Prince Albert's Rifle-bird, the present species is another instance of a closely allied 



J X northern continental form being mistaken for an older and well known Papuan species. 



Originally discovered by MacGillivray at Cape York, Gould figured and described it in his 

 "Supplement to the Birds of Australia" under the name of Manucodia keraudreni. Four years 

 after, Mr. G. R. Gray, in a note to a list of Birds collected by Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace 

 at Dorey, New Guinea," pointed out that it was distinct from M. keraudreni and proposed for it 

 the name of M. gouldi. According to Professor Alfred Newton, t the name of Alanucode is 

 an abbreviation from the French Manucodiata, the Latinised form of the Malay word 

 Manukdeithxta, meaning "the bird of the gods," and a name applied apparently to Birds of 



Paradise in general. Since the present species 

 has been removed from the genus Manucodia 

 into its proper place in the closely allied 

 genus Plwnygama, it might appropriately be 

 distinguished by the vernacular name of 

 Trumpet-bird, from its peculiar note. It is 

 confined to the extreme northern portion of the 

 Cape York Peninsula, and is the only repre- 

 sentative of the genus in .\ustralia. Mr. J. A. 

 Thorpe found it freely distributed at Cape York 

 in 1867-8, and Mr. George Masters obtained 

 specimens in the same locality during the 

 voyage of the '-Chevert" to the north-eastern 

 coast in 1 875, and of which the latter remarks: — 

 "A very noisy bird, and plentiful in the brushes 

 about Somerset." Duringthe voyageof " H.M.S. 

 Challenger," the late Professor H. N. Moseley 

 obtained two females on Albany Island, opposite 

 Somerset. 



Relative to this species, Mr. Thorpe has given 

 me the following notes: — "I found Gould's 

 Manucode fairly plentiful in the dense brushes close to Somerset. Usually they are met with 

 in pairs, high up in the fruit and berry-bearing trees, and frequently in company with other 

 species. The males utter a very loud and deep guttural note, unlike that of any other bird I 

 am acquainted with, and it astonished me that a comparatively small bird could make so much 

 noise. In the trees they are very active in their movements, and on the appearance of an intruder 

 evince more curiosity than timidity. I have frequently shot them by trying to imitate their notes, 

 or by making a strange noise, when they would hop down from branch to branch in an inquisitive 

 kind of way, as if trying to ascertain its source. The bird is particularly fond of the fruit of a 

 certain species of fig; but the stomachs of those I examined contained insects, as well as 

 fruits and berries of various kinds." 



When placed in spirits for any length of time, the feathers of this bird change in colour 

 from a steel-green to dull oil -green. 



Although P. gouldi and P. keraudreni so closely resemble each other in size and colour, the 

 former being a uniform steel-green, and the latter steel-blue with purple wings and tail, there is 

 a most remarkable difference in the form of the trachea in the males. 



The peculiar subcutaneous convoluted tracheas of the closely allied genera Manucodia 

 and Phonygama have formed subject matter for many interesting papers. Lesson, in the 



AUSTUALIAN TRUMPET-BIKD. 



• Proc Zool. Soc, 1859, p. 158. 

 \ Diet. Bds., pt. ii,, p. 554 (1893): 



