130 



The sketch alluded to in the above extract having been placed 

 in Mr. G. R. Gray's hands for examination and comparison vi^ith the 

 other known species, the following notes of that gentleman, relative 

 to it, were read to the meeting : — 



" This Paradise-Bird proves, as Mr. Wallace remarks in his lettre, 

 to be a new form, differing from all its congeners, approaching most 

 nearly to the King Bird of Paradise ; but in place of the lengthened 

 caudal appendages, it has, springing from the lesser coverts of each 

 wing, two long shafts, both of which are webbed on each side at the 

 apex. It is the possession of these peculiar winged standards that 

 induces me to propose for it the subgeneric appellation of Semio- 

 ptera. 



" I have endeavoured to transform the rough sketch into the 

 probable appearance of the living bird ; and I further add the pro- 

 visional specific name of Paradisea wallacii, which appellation I 

 think is justly due to Mr, Wallace for the indefatigable energy he 

 has hitherto shown in the advancement of ornithological and ento- 

 mological knowledge, by visiting localities rarely if ever travelled by 

 naturalists. 



" I wait for the arrival of the specimens before venturing to give 

 more detailed accounts of its subgeneric characters, or a full de- 

 sci'iption of its coloration, &c., which I hope to have the pleasure 

 of laying before the members at some future meeting of the So- 

 ciety." 



Mr. G. R. Gray laid before the meeting a drawing of Tringa pec- 

 toralis, which was made by the late Mr. Adams, Surgeon of H.M.S. 

 ' Enterprise.' It exhibited the bird in the act of having inflated its 

 throat and breast in the manner of the Pouter Pigeon. From the 

 correctness of the other drawings by the same gentleman, Mr. Gray 

 had little doubt that Mr. Adams observed this singular phenomenon 

 in the specimen from which the drawing was taken. The drawing 

 was more especially placed before the members, in the hopes of 

 learning whether such a singularity of habits had been noticed before 

 in this species or in any other of the Tringce. 



The bird has peculiar feathers on its breast. 



