The Paradise Okiole. 571 



There are three other New Guinea birds which are by some 

 authors classed with the birds of paradise, and which, being 

 almost equally remarkable for splendid plumage, deserve to 

 be noticed here. The first is the Paradise pie (Astrapia nigra 

 of Lesson), a bird of the size of Paradisea rubra, but with a 

 very long tail, glossed above with intense violet. The back is 

 bi'onzy black, the lower parts green, the throat and neck border- 

 ed with loose broad feathers of an intense coppery hue, while 

 on the top of the head and neck they are glittering emerald 

 green. All the plumage round the head is lengthened and 

 erectile, and when spread out by the living bird must have an 

 effect hardly surpassed by any of the true paradise birds. The 

 bill is black and the feet yellow. The Astrapia seems to me 

 to be somewhat intermediate between the Paradiseidoe and 

 Epimachidae. 



There is an allied species, having a bare carunculated head, 

 which has been called Paradigalla carunculata. It is believed 

 to inhabit, w4th the preceding, the mountainous interior of 

 Xew Guinea, but is exceedingly rare, the only known specimen 

 being in the Philadelphia Museum. 



The Paradise Oriole is another beautiful bird, which is now 

 sometimes classed with the birds of paradise. It has been 

 named Paradisea aurea and Oriolus aureus by the old natural- 

 ists, and is now generally placed in the same genus as the Re- 

 gent Bird of Australia (Sericulus chrysocephalus). But the" 

 form of the bill and the character of the plumage seem to me 

 to be so different that it will have to form a distinct genus. 

 This bird is almost entirely yellow, with the exception of the 

 throat, the tail, and part of the wings and back, which are 

 black; but it is chiefly characterized by a quantity of long 

 feathers of an intense glossy orange color, which cover its neck 

 down to the middle of the back, almost like the hackles of a 

 game-cock. 



This beautiful bird inhabits the main-land of New Guinea, 

 and is also found in Salvvatty, but is so rare that I was only 

 able to obtain one imperfect native skin, and nothing whatever 

 is known of its habits. 



I will now give a list of all the birds of paradise yet known, 

 with the places they are believed to inhabit. 



