BIRD-OF-PARADISE 39 



lib. xii.), rejoicing of course in these absurd fables, severely took 

 to task some of those who doubted them — among them Pigafetta 

 himself, who is rated for declaring that Birds-of-Paradise had legs, 

 for it was clear from the authorities cited that they had or ought 

 to have none. Aldrovandus professedly figured five species, but only 

 three of them can be referred with any certainty to the genus 

 Farad,isea. 



There would be little use in dwelling upon the many false 

 assertions made by some of the older wi'iters concerning these 

 gorgeous and singular birds, nor is space here available to 

 recount the way in which species after species has been discovered. 

 The first naturalist who was able to observe anything of them in 

 their own haunts seems to have been Lesson, who in July and 

 August 1824 passed a fortnight at Dorey in New Guinea ( Foy. 

 Coquille, Zoologie, ii. p. 436) ; but, though his remarks have in- 

 terest, his opportunities are not worthy to be named with those 

 enjoyed by Mr. Wallace, who in the course of his long sojourn 

 and wanderings in the Moluccas and neighbouring islands made 

 the personal acquaintance of nearly every species then known, and 

 indeed first brought to the notice of naturalists one most curious 

 form, Semioptera wallacii. His admirable account of their habits 

 may be read in one of the most accessible of books, his Malay 

 Archipelago. Varied as is the appearance of the several forms 

 of Paradiseidx, most of them are sufficiently well known to require 

 no description here. In 1873 Mr. Elliot completed a fine Mono- 

 graph of the Family, which he divided into 3 subfamilies — 

 Paradiseinx, with 1 genera and 1 7 species ; Epimachinse, with 4 

 genera and 8 species ; and Tedonarchinm — the last comprising the 

 Bower-birds, and including in all 36 species, of which 22 inhabit 

 New Guinea. In 1881 Prof. Salvadori enumerated 39 species, 

 which he disposed of in 21 genera, as occurring within the scope 

 of his elaborate Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. Eecent 

 explorations, mostly by German naturalists, and especially by Dr. 

 Hunstein, have considerably increased this number, and the repre- 

 sentatives of two very distinct and beautiful new forms Astrarchia 

 stephanise and Paradisornis rudolphi, to say nothing of two fine species 

 of the old genus Paradisea, P. gulielmi-ii, and P. augiisfcX-vidorix, 

 by their names testify to the loyalty of Drs. Finsch, A. B. Meyer, 

 and Cabanis, who have described them (Zeitschr. ges. Orn. 1885, 

 pp. 369-391, pis. xv.-xxii. ; transl. Ihis, 1886, pp. 237-258, pi. vii. ; 

 and Journ.f. Orn. 1888, p. 119, 1889, pis. i. ii.) 



The Paradiseidm are admittedly true Passeres, but their exact 



position cannot be said to have been absolutely determined, though 



there can be little doubt of their forming part of the group 



indefinitely known as " Austrocoraces " ^ — to which so many forms 



1 The Noto-Coracomorphx of Parker {Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. p.- 327). 



