120 Lt SouEF, Dfscriplion o) a Nciv Bird-of-Payadise . I j^j'J',^,, 



behind the eye. The back is blue and green mixed with black, 

 and nearly black in appearance. The breast is blackish, in some 

 light bluish or greenish, with a few blue feathers, terminating at 

 the belly with a narrow blue band ; on each side of the breast 

 is a small patch of chestnut feathers, slightly mottled. The 

 wings are greenish-blue above, but the lower primaries are black, 

 edged with blue on their lower portion ; the middle and lesser 

 coverts and tertiaries on the inner webs arc edged with light 

 blue. The sides under the wing are chestnut, more or less 

 mottled. The belly is satiny-black, with a broad band of 

 reddish-chestnut at the vent. 



The smaller set of ornamental plumes is a rich purplish-blue 

 at their base, the outer portions being greenish-blue; the longer 

 plumes measure up to yyi inches in length ; on one side they are 

 greenish-blue, on the other chestnut-brown ; in P. rudolphi 

 they measure lO inches in length. 



The tail is dark blue above, some of the feathers having their 

 inner web black ; underneath the colour is light blue. The two 

 elongated tail feathers measure 17.06 inches ; the shaft is light- 

 coloured at the base, the rest black, except for about 4 irxhes 

 on the underside at the end, where it is light blue ; the feathers 

 are dark blackish-purple above, underneath black with a slight 

 violet hue, except the last 4 inches, which is light blue; the tip 

 is spatula-shaped, but has no spot on the tip, as in rudolpJii. 

 The wings measure 6.25 inches, tail 3.5 inches, culmen 1.23 

 inches, and tarsus 1.5 inches; total length, 11.75 inches. 



The principal differences between this bird and P. rudolpJii 

 are the colour and size of the two elongated tail feathers,the length 

 and colour of the ornamental plumes, and the chestnut markings 

 on the breast and sides. The description is of the male only, as 

 I have not had any opportunity of seeing a female. I have 

 named this bird after Mr. Atlee Hunt, the well-known Secretary 

 of External Affairs in the Australian Commonwealth Govern- 

 ment, he having procured the bird when in British New Guinea. 



Observations on the Rearing of a Cuckoo. 



By a. G. Campbell, Melbourne. 



This season I have had opportunity of watching the rearing of 

 a young Fan-tailed Cuckoo {Cacoviantis flahellifoniiis) in a nest 

 of the Scrub-Wren {Sencorms oscnlans). For some years a pair 

 of Sericornes has lived in the garden of the School of Horti- 

 culture, Burnley, not four miles from the General Post-Office, 

 the centre of Melbourne. The birds have met with somewhat 

 indifferent success in endeavouring to rear young, for either 



