418 THE BIRDS OF PARADISE. [ch. xxxvm. 



There are three other New Guinea birds which are by 

 some authors classed with the Birds of Paradise, and 

 which, being almost equally remarkable for splendid 

 plumage, deserve to be noticed here. The first is the 

 Paradise pie (Astrapia nigra of Lesson), a bird of the 

 size of Paradisea rubra, but with a very long tail, glossed 

 above with intense violet. The back is bronzy black, 

 the lower parts green, the throat and neck bordered with 

 loose broad feathers of an intense coppery hue, while on 

 the top of the head and neck they are glittering emerald 

 green. All the plumage round the head is lengthened 

 and erectile, and when spread out by the living bird must 

 have an effect hardly surpassed by any of the true Paradise 

 Birds. The bill is black and the feet yellow. The Astrapia 

 seems to me to be somewhat intermediate between the 

 Paradiseidae and Epimachidse. 



There is an allied species, having a bare carunculated 

 head, which has been called ParadigaUa canmculata. It 

 is believed to inhabit, with the preceding, the mountainous 

 interior of New Guinea, but is exceedingly rare, the only 

 known specimen being in the Philadelphia Museum. 



The Paradise Oriole is another beautiful bird, which is 

 now sometimes classed with the Birds of Paradise. It has 

 been named Paradisea aurca and Oriolus aureus by the old 

 naturalists, and is now generally placed in the same genus 



