768 The Sparrow-like Birds 



the extraordinary light apple-green color of the gullet, and sings the same gur- 

 gling notes without once closing his bill, and with a slow dying-away movement 

 of his tail and body. A single drawn-out note is then uttered, the tail and wires 

 are lowered, and the dance and song are over." 



Magnificent Bird-of -Paradise. In some respects quite close to the last, but 

 differing in the possession of a shield of feathers on the back and the absence of 

 flank plumes, is the genus Diphyllodes, the two species of which are found in 

 New Guinea. The best-known of the species is the remarkable little Magnificent 

 Bird-of-Paradise (D\ magnificus}, which is under seven inches in length, having 

 the head covered with close-set velvety brown feathers, which advance on the 

 beak so as to cover the nostrils. " From the nape springs a dense mass of feathers 

 of a straw-yellow color and about one and a half inches long, forming a mantle 

 over the upper part of the back. Beneath this, and forming a band about one 

 third of an inch beyond it, is a second mantle of rich, glossy, reddish brown 

 feathers. The rest of the back is orange-brown, the tail-coverts and tail dark 

 bronzy, the wings light orange-buff. The whole under surface is covered with 

 an abundance of plumage springing from the margins of the breast, and of a 

 deep rich green color, with changeable hues of purple. Down the middle of the 

 breast is a broad band of scaly plumes of the same color, while the chin and 

 throat are of a rich metallic bronze. From the middle of the tail spring two 

 narrow feathers of a rich steel-blue and about ten inches long. These are 

 webbed on the inner side only and curve outward, so as to form a double circle." 

 Very little is known concerning this rare species. 



Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise. Also allied to the King Bird-of-Paradise, but 

 having the head bare, with the exception of a few narrow tracts of featheis, is 

 Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise (Schlegelia wilsoni), which is confined to the islands 

 of Waigiu and Batanta. In life the head is of the brightest imaginable blue, 

 the bizarre effect being till further heightened by "two fine Hues of feathers, 

 which running lengthwise and from side to side form a dark cross upon the 

 brilliant azure background." The mantle is bright yellow and the remainder 

 of the back bright metallic crimson, while the lower throat and breast form a 

 shield of metallic grass-green. The two central tail-feathers are narrow, pro- 

 longed for five or six inches beyond the others, and after crossing each other 

 are curved into a nearly complete circle of bright, steely purple. 



Six-plumed Bird-of-Paradise. Varied and wonderful as are the plumes and 

 ornaments already described, they by no means exhaust the possibilities within 

 the limits of this incomparable group, for in the Six-plumed Birds-of-Paradise 

 (Parotid} we have quite a new departure. Of the five species now recognized 

 the first and best-known is P. sefilata of the Arfak Mountains of New Guinea. 

 About twelve and a half inches in length, the general color above is a rich pur- 

 plish velvety black, glowing with bronze and deep purple in certain lights, while 

 the throat and breast are scaled with broad, flat feathers of an intense golden 

 coppery hue which changes to green and blue tints in some lights. The frontal 

 plumes are purplish, the feathers tipped with shining, satiny white, forming a 

 band across the forehead, these stiff plumes being capable of erection or de- 



