Ptiloris paradiseus. 483 



Dimensions. 



In, 

 Total length 12 



Bill in a strait line from the rictus to the tip . . 2 T 2 ^ 



Wings 6 



Breadth of the lesser quills 1| 



Tail ., 3| 



Tarsi 1|. 



Hallux and claw, in a strait line If 



Middle toe ditto If 



FEMALE. 



The contrast of colour between this sex and that we have just 

 described, is particularly striking. While the male is adorned 

 with the refulgent splendour, and singular developement of 

 plumage belonging to the Paradise birds, the female is clothed 

 in the homely and " russet brown" attire of the Scansorial and 

 Meliphagous tribes; as if nature intended to shew us in what 

 manner all these groups were connected. There are many curious 

 circumstances attending the colour of certain families, particularly 

 as affecting their geographic distribution, which have long con- 

 vinced me that this subject deserves much greater attention than 

 it has hitherto received. In the present case the female bird is 

 partly coloured like a Dendrocolaptes^ a Picus, and a Meliphaga. 

 The upper parts of the plumage are greyish brown, the quills and 

 tail edged with ferruginous. The head and its sides are blackish, 

 and each feather marked by a whitish line down the middle of 

 the shaft. Thus far we have a disposition of colours universal 

 among the Dendrocolaptes. The ear feathers are like those of the 

 head, but are bordered above by a stripe of white which begins 

 behind the eye, a circumstance very general among the Meli- 

 phagidw, but of which I know no instance in Dendrocolaptes. 

 Lastly, the under plumage is that of a Woodpecker, the ground 

 colour is whitish, tinged on the breast and body with ferruginous, 

 each feather being marked by a transverse angulated line of black, 

 resembling the head of a broad arrow. The side feathers, (so 



