398 THE BIRDS OF PARADISE. [ch. xxxviii. 



the head to behind the eyes, and on the forehead forms a 

 little double crest of scaly feathers, which adds much to 

 the vivacity of the bird's aspect. The bill is gamboge 

 yellow, and the iris blackish olive. (Figure at p. 353.) 

 The female of this species is of a tolerably uniform 

 coffee-brown colour, but has a blackish head, and the nape, 

 neck, and shoulders yellow, indicating the position of the 

 brighter colours of the male. The changes of plumage 

 follow the same order of succession as in the other species, 

 the bright colours of the head and neck being first deve- 

 loped, then the lengthened filaments of the tail, and last of 

 all, the red side plumes. I obtained a series of specimens, 

 illustrating the manner in which the extraordinary black 

 tail ribands are developed, which is very remarkable. 

 They first appear as two ordinary feathers, rather shorter 

 than the rest of the tail ; the second stage would no doubt 

 be that shown in a specimen of Paradisea apoda, in which 

 the feathers are moderately lengthened, and with the web 

 narrowed in the middle; the third stage is shown by a 

 specimen which has part of the midrib bare, and terminated 

 ' by a spatulate web ; in another the bare midrib is a little 

 dilated and semi-cylindrical, and the terminal web very 

 small ; in a fifth, the perfect black horny riband is formed, 

 but it bears at its extremity a brown spatulate web, Avhile 

 in another a portion of the black riband itself bears, for a 

 portion of its length, a narrow brown web. It is only 



