18S5.] DURING THE VOYAGE OF THE YACHT ' MARCHESA.' fi53 



any rate in the northern islands, where they have been collected for 

 export for more than a hundred years. In the southern islands they 

 may possibly exist in undiminished numbers ; but the prices have 

 risen of late years, and while Wallace, in 1857, paid as little as six- 

 pence for the native-prepared skins, they cannot now be obtained 1 at 

 Dobbo under two dollars. 



The largest market in the East for the skins of the biirong mati, or 

 Paradise birds, is at Macassar. Here the commoner sorts are brought 

 in great m mbers, made up in parcels of twenty skins, known in the 

 trade as koddies. These are all native-prepared skins, for the most 

 part devoid of legs, and useless to the naturalist, besides being 

 generally much moth-eaten. Practically, only six species come into 

 the market: — "males" (P. apodci), "females" (P. minor), "red 

 birds" (P. r!<6;'«), " many-wires " {S. alba), "green birds" {D. 

 speciosa), a,nd "king birds" (C. rec/ius) ; and the trade prices for 

 skins of medium quality per hoddy are as follows : — 



P. apoda 90-100 gulden. 



P. minor 70- 90 ,, 



P. rubra 80-110 



S.alba 110-130 



D. speciosa .50- 70 ,, 



C. regius 30- 40 „ 



The gulden may be reckoned at one shilling and eightpence. 



The trade in Macassar is carried on chiefly by a few Dutch mer- 

 chants, and by various Chinamen, who likewise deal in gum-dammar, 

 pearls, pearl-shell, and other productions of the eastern islands. The 

 greater portion of the skins are sent to Paris, although London ab- 

 sorbs a considerable quantity. But few of them, however, find their 

 way to Holland. 



160. Paradisea rubra, Lacep. 



Uranornis rubra, Salvad. op. cit. vol. ii. p. 623. 



a-g. (S . Waigiou. 



h-m. Vix ad. S ■ Waigiou. 



n-s. Jr. (S . Waigiou. 



t-i' . $ . Waigiou. 



le-n . 5 . Batanta. 



d . Jr. (S . Batanta. 



Iris ruddy brown ; bill greenish yellow ; feet greenish brown. 

 Length 34"0-36"0 centims., wing 15*5-18'4. Female smaller, 

 length 30"0-34*0 centims., wing about Ib'O. 



As in the case of most of the Paradiseidae, the young males are 

 not to be distinguished from the females as far as regards plumage, 

 though the latter are somewhat inferior in size. The first change 

 appears to be the assumption of the metallic green of the head, 

 simultaneously with a slight darkening of the chestnut on the upper 

 breast, and a brightening of the yellow on the neck and wing-coverts. 

 The two median rectrices then commence to elongate, and after a 



