some new Paradise-birds. 251 



142° 30' E. long., about 60 miles west of D'Urville Island : 

 on the Admiralty chart ' Passir Point ' is marked here, but 

 on such point exists in reality. Only at this one spot on the 

 north coast did the natives bring Paradise-bird skins for sale 

 along with ornamental plumes of Dasyptilus. All skins 

 from this locality are small in dimensions/^ {Finsch.) 



The single native skin which constitutes the type of this 

 species has the brown of the upper surface not pure chest- 

 nut, as in P. minor, but paler brown, and the under surface 

 is not chestnut-brown with a vinous tinge as in P. minor, but 

 more of a reddish brown. These variations in colour are 

 very noticeable. Besides, P. finschi differs from P. minor in 

 the size and the form of the bill, which is more slender and 

 elongated in the latter ; its length in P. minor reaches 32-35 

 millim. in specimens in the Dresden Museum. There seems 

 to be also a difference in the colour of the upper mandible, 

 which in P. finschi has a light-coloured culmen. 



In Western New Guinea P. minor occurs, in Southern 

 New Guinea P. novae-guineae (Salvad. Orn. Pap. ii. p. 609), 

 the latter approaching P. apoda of Aroo. From the north- 

 east of the great island no example of this form has yet 

 been brought, although we are assured of its occurrence 

 there, for example in Astrolabe Bay. It may be presumed 

 that the north-eastern form will be nearer to P. minor than 

 to P. apoda, because the great central chain of New Guinea 

 running from east to west cuts off the north from the south. 

 It would be interesting to ascertain whereabouts on the 

 north coast P. minor passes into P. finschi. 



[The first species of Paradise-bird obtained from Emperor 

 William^s Land bears appropriately the name of its dis- 

 coverer, who at the same time was the first to mark out the 

 new German colony. — M.] 



12. Paradisea raggiana, Sclater. 



Astrolabe Mountains and Milne Bay. 



At fifteen miles in the interior from Port Moresby, accord- 

 ing to Hunstein, this species is first met with, but does not 

 occur on the Horseshoe Mountain. It extends to Basilisk 

 Island and westward to Bentley Bay. 



2t 



