Vol. xxiii.] 36 



three species were rxire in the Moroka regions, as they 

 have been relentlessly persecuted there for many years past. 

 The first bird shot on the expedition was a female of 

 P. rudolphi ; two males were also seen^ one at the same 

 time and the other on a subsequent occasion. These birds 

 appear to be very local, and the natives say (and it 

 seems to be true) that they frequent tbe vicinity of 

 rocky cliffs. At one place on the coast, natives from the 

 interior were seen who had evidently come from a region 

 where tbese birds were very numerous. They had come 

 down to trade the blue plumes Avith the coast natives, 

 and had the complete side-plumes fixed to strings in yard- 

 lengths. The same people also had great numbers of the 

 complete crests of Amblyornis subalaris and A. inornata, 

 which, like the two long feathers of Charmosyna Stella, are in 

 great demand on the coast for making " dancing " ornaments. 

 P. rudolphi has a remarkably agreeable call for a Bird-of- 

 Paradise, although it is unmistakably the note of a bird of 

 that family. It keeps to the high trees, but, according to 

 the natives, is easily snared as it comes low down to dance. 



" Only one example of Epimachus meyeri was seen. The 

 notes of this species are most remarkable, and consist of a 

 loud, sharply-emitted, blowing noise, and a sound very 

 much like the rattle of a kettledrum. The bird seen had a 

 rapid flight and Creeper-like habits, and alighted directly on 

 the perpendicular trunk of a tree. 



'' Only one example of Astrapia stephanice was procured 

 and three examples of Loria marits. The legs and feet of 

 the last-named species are holly-green in the male, but less 

 bright in the female. In life the gape of this bird is very 

 remarkable, for it projects for a cousiderabls distance beyond 

 the sides of the face, and is of a primrose-yellow colour. 

 The inside of the throat is pink, so when the mouth is open 

 it has the appearance of a Gloxinia. 



" Drepanornis cervinicnuda subsists chiefly on insects, and 

 was seen clinging to the ends of rotten branches and probing 

 the holes with its long bill. It frequents tlie lower forest- 

 growth, and was sometimes seen flying a short distance above 



