Mr. D, G. Elliot on Two Genei'a of Paradiseidse. Ill 



with grey, more purely buff on lower tail-coverts and wing- 

 lining, and more rufescent on tibial plumes ; inner webs of 

 primaries and secondaries hair-brown. The young birds are 

 much paler and more albescent on the lower surface. 



This is a very distinct species, widely spread over the country. 

 I have it from Mount Aboo, Gurhwal, and Kamoah, collected 

 by Dr. King ; from Niher, Mahableshwur, collected by the Rev. 

 H. Bruce; from Naipoor, collected by F. R. Blewitt, Esq.; 

 from Etawah, collected by myself ; and Mr. Brooks tells me he 

 has it from two or three other localities. The birds vary very 

 much in size, the young being considerably smaller than the 

 adults, and the females being always much smaller than the 

 males. Some quite young birds entirely lack the rufescent 

 tinge which is so characteristic of this species, and which, in the 

 newly moulted adult, approaches that of Pydorhis sinensis. The 

 plumage fades much by exposure; and adults just previously 

 to moulting are met with of a dull rufous grey. 



I may add that when recently staying with me, Mr. Brooks 

 went very carefully over all these species, comparing them with 

 nearly allied forms. He agrees with me both as to their novelty 

 and in assigning them to the genera under which I have placed 

 them. 



XIV. — Desci'iptions of Two Genera of Paradiseidse, with remarks 

 on some of the Species. By D. G. Elliot, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



The species commonly placed by authors in the genus Sericulus, 

 and known to ornithologists as S. aureus, presents so many cha- 

 racters not found in the Regent Bird, that it has seemed to me 

 necessary to acknowledge the generic name Xanthomelus pro- 

 posed for it by Bonaparte (Ann. d. Sc. Nat. ser. iv. Zool. 1854, 

 p. 122; C. R. xxxviii. 1854, p. 538), and to separate it entirely 

 from the species with which it has generally been united. That 

 Sericulus has not been deemed the proper genus for this bird is 

 evident by the way it has been removed by different authors 

 from one genus to another. Thus Linnseus considered it an 

 Oriole, and placed it in his genus Oriolus. Many authors have 

 given it a position in Paradisea among the typical Birds of 



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