1895.] Oy TUB MOPLTING OF TUJi GEKAT BlttU OF PAEADISE. 5-11 



2. On the ^Moulting of the Great Bird of Paradise, with brief 

 Notes upon its Habits in Captivity. By Ram Bramha 

 Sanyal, C.M.Z.S. 



[Received May 27, 1895.] 



lu his remarks on the moulting of the Great Bird of Paradise 

 (Farad'usea ai>o<(a), recorded in the P. Z. S. of Ai)ril 1S87 (p. 391'), 

 Mr. Bartlett questions the statement of Dr. (iuillemard, made upon 

 the authority of the inhabitants of the Aru Islands, that the Great 

 Bird of Paradise •' does not « ear its aduU plumajje all the year, 

 and that its beautiful plumes remain developed for not longer than 

 two or three mouths." 



1 have had opportunities of observing the habits of two adult 

 males of the Great Bird of Paradise for a suilicient length of time 

 to justify me in staling that, although it is dillicult to make the 

 phenomenon fit in with our jjpevious notion of the law of moulting in 

 birds, it is nevertheless the faot that my observations regarding the 

 moulting of this bird, extending over a period of four years, go to 

 show that there is some truth in Dr. Guilleniard's statement. 



In January 1891, the Zoological (harden, Calcutta, was fortunate 

 in having presented to it a male Paradisea ajiotla, from the Aru 

 Islands. It was then in perfect adult plumage. By the middle 

 of February following 1 noticed that the bird was every now and 

 then pecking at the feathers of its lower back, which was much 

 dishevelled. Suspecting something wrong, I consulted Mr. William 

 Eutledge, an experienced dealer in live stock at Calcutta, who had 

 owned the bird for about two years previous to iU acquisition by 

 the Garden. He assured me that there was nothing wrong, but 

 that the bird was beginning to moult. It went on throwing off 

 its feathers slowly at first, but rapidly as the period of moult 

 advanced, so that by the middle of May it had cast off all its 

 beautiful side-plumes and tail-feathers, except the two central 

 wire-like ones, which fell off later on. The short, close, velvety 

 feathers of the head, neck, and throat were the last to fall off by 

 the end of July, and the first to reappear a few days later. The 

 bird did not, however, assume its perfect plumage until about the 

 middle of October. "With slight variations as to time, it has, every 

 year since its ari-ival in 1891, been observed to remain more or less 

 in undress, as it were, during the unusually prolonged period of 

 moulting. During the current year it began throwing ofif its 

 feathers early in February, and now (May 7th) not one of the 

 long beautiful plumes is left. The two long wire-like central tail- 

 feathers have not fallen, but are broken off at the middle. 



In January 1892, another male bird of the same species, but 

 said to have been from the southern part of New Guinea (and 

 possibly, therefore, referable to P. papmnsis), was acquired by 

 purchase. It \Aas shghtly smaller and a little brighter in colour 

 than the Aru-Island bird. During the two years that it remained 

 alive its moulting-habits were carefully observed and found to vary 



