Oniitholoyical Progress in New Guinea. 249 



of from eighteen to twenty or more ; after the first shot they 

 become very sliy : they are seldom killed by the hunters, 

 l)ecause they look on them as dull and uninteresting birds, 

 and because they are infested with an immense number of 

 little parasites, which spread in all directions, and cause a 

 most unpleasant itching. As to the Paradise-birds, I have 

 obtained all the species belonging to the region. At Ansus I 

 got two specimens of Diphyllodes chrysoptera, which seems to 

 be found also at Amberbaki and elsewhere. It seems most 

 improbable to me that Diphyllodes gulielmi-tertii should be 

 found at Waigiou, because the type specimen (which I have 

 seen) was, if I do not mistake, prepared in the manner of 

 the Alfuros of New Guinea, and was acquired at Salwatti 

 from a 'Bugis Nakoda' (captain of a Celebes boat), to 

 whom it had most likely come from Has. It seems to me 

 hardly probable that the female is the bird that has been 

 described as such. I have had information of this bird at 

 Wa-Samson ; and it is not improbable that it may also be 

 found at Salwatti. The Epimachi have been separated from 

 the other birds of Paradise ; but I think this is paradoxical. 

 The form and length of the beak of Epimachus maximus is 

 most variable ; the young males and females are found with 

 the beak only half the length of that of the adult males and 

 females. This fact made me think at first that I had found 

 the female of Epimachus eUioti; but I was mistaken. An 

 Epimachus seems to be found at Waigiou, and will probably 

 be E. ellioti; but I was not able to return there as I had 

 intended. Epimachus maximus and Astrapia gularis are only 

 found on the highest and most difficult peaks of Mount 

 Arfak, nearly always above 6000 feet elevation. Specimens 

 in dark plumage are common enough ; but those which have 

 attained perfect plumage are rare, perhaps because they take 

 some years to acquire it. Both of them live on the fruits of 

 certain Pandanacete, and especially on those of the Freycinetice, 

 which are epiphytous on the trunks of trees. The irides of the 

 large Epimachus are dark brick-red, those of the Astrapia 

 almost black ; the neck-feathers of the latter are erectable, 

 and expand into a magnificent collar round the head. The 



SER. III. VOL. VI, S 



