836 Batchian. 



from each shoulder. All assured me that the bu'd stuck them 

 out this way itself when fluttering its wings, and that they had 

 remained so without his touching them, I now saw that I 

 had got a great prize, no less than a completely new form of 

 the bird of paradise, differing most remarkably from every 

 other known bird. The general jDlumage is very sober, being 

 a pure ashy olive, with a purplish tinge on the back ; the 

 crown of the head is beautifully glossed with pale metallic 

 violet, and the feathers of the front extend as much over the 

 beak as in most of the family. The neck and breast are scaled 

 with fine metallic green, and the feathers on the lower part 

 are elongated on each side, so as to form a two-pointed gorget, 

 which can be folded beneath the wings, or jiartially erected 

 and spread out in the same way as the side plumes of most of 

 the birds of paradise. The four long white plumes which 

 give the bird its altogether unique character spring from little 

 tubercles close to the upper edge of the shoulder or bend of 

 the wing ; they are narrow, gently curved, and equally webbed 

 on both sides, of a pure creamy-white color. They are about 

 six inches long, equalling the wing, and can be raised at right 

 angles to it, or laid along the body at the pleasure of the bird. 

 The bill is horn color, the legs yellow, and the iris pale olive. 

 This sti'iking novelty has been named by Mr. G. R. Gray, of 

 the British Museum, Semioptera Wallacei, or " Wallace's 

 Standard- wing." 



A few days later I obtained an exceedingly beautiful new 

 butterfly, allied to the fine blue Papilio Ulysses, but differing 

 from it in the color being of a more intense tint, and in hav- 

 ing a row of blue stripes around the margin of the lower 

 wings. This good beginning was, howevei*, rather deceptive, 

 and I soon found that insects, and especially butterflies, were 

 somewhat scarce, and birds in far less variety than I had an- 

 ticipated. Several of the fine Moluccan species were however 

 obtained. The handsome red lory, with green wings and a 

 yellow spot in the back (Loi-ius garrulus), was not uncommon. 

 When the jambu, or rose-apple (Eugenia sp.), was in flower in 

 the village, flocks of the little lorikeet (Charmosyna placentis), 

 already met with in Gilolo, came to feed upon the nectar, and I 

 obtained as many specimens as I desired. Another beautiful 

 bird of the parrot tribe was the Geoffroyus cyanicoUis, a green 



