CH. XXXVIII.] THl^ SIX-SHAFTED. 409 



liue, changing to green and blue tints in certain lights. 

 On the back of the head is a broad recurved band 

 of feathers, whose brilliancy is indescribable, resembling 

 the sheen of emerald and topaz rather than any organic 

 substance. Over the forehead is a large patch of pure 

 white feathers, which shine like satin ; and from the sides 

 of the head spring the six wonderful feathers from which 

 the bird receives its name. These are slender wires, six 

 inches long, with a small oval web at the extremity. In 

 addition to these ornaments, there is also an immense tuft 

 of soft feathers on each side of the breast, which when 

 elevated must entirely hide the wings, and give the bird 

 an appearance of being double its real bulk. The bill is 

 black, short, and rather compressed, with the feathers 

 advancing over the nostrils, as in Cicinnurus regius. This 

 singular and brilliant bird inhabits the same region as the 

 Superb Bird of Paradise, and nothing whatever is known 

 about it but what we can derive from an examination of 

 the skins preserved by the natives of New Guinea. 



The Standard Wing, named Semioptera wallacei by JNIr. 

 G. R. Gray, is an entirely new form of Bird of Paradise, dis- 

 covered by myself in the island of Batchian, and especially 

 distinguished by a pair of long narrow feathers of a white 

 colour, which spring from among the short plumes which 

 clothe the bend of the wing, and are capable of being 



