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ART. XVI. — Description of a new species of the genus Paradisea, Linn., in the 

 collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. By John Cassin. 



Paradisea Wilsonii, nobis.* — Supra coccinea, macula collari postica pallide flava fronte mentoque 

 nigris, alis et cauda fuscis, plumis supra-caudalibus productis clialybeis, ornata, infra sericeo- 

 viridis. 



Form. — Specimen about to be described probably not adult and somewhat 

 mutilated, skin of the hinder part of the head destro_yed. Plumage compact, with 

 feathers slightly elongated from the sides of the neck, and two plumes having their 

 origin at the base of the tail, which latter are curved into circles of about one inch in 

 diameter. First primary spurious, third and fourth longest and nearly equal. 

 Exposed portion of the plumage of the back filiform, feathers of the inferior surface 

 broad and truncate. Related to Paradisea magnifica, Lath. 



Dimensions. — Total length of skin from tip of bill to end of tail about 7J inches, 

 wing 3|, tail 1^ inches. 



Colors. — Back crimson, which color is completely enclosed by an edging of black, 

 forming a cordate mantle. Large nuchal spot yellow, front and chin black. Wing 

 coverts and quills hair brown, greater coverts and primaries narrowly edged, 

 secondaries and tertiaries broadly edged with crimson, some of the most exposed 

 tertiaries almost entirely of this color and tipped with black. Tail and coverts above 

 and below hair brown. Ornamental plumes of the tail steel blue. Elongated 

 feathers of the neck black, with a coppery lustre and tipped with bright green. 



Under parts from the neck to the abdomen pale silky green, the feathers brown at 

 their bases, and having intermedial (between the brown and the green colors) 

 triangular spots of a deeper glossy green, inclining to blue on the neck and breast; 

 truncate feathers of the sides and belly tipped with deep shining green, posterior 

 part of abdomen dull brownish black. 



Hah. — New Guinea ? 



Obs. — This very handsome Paradise bird is one of the most valuable of the many 

 contributions to the collection of this Academy made by Mr. Edward Wilson, of 

 Pembrokeshire, England, to whom I have taken the liberty of dedicating it as a 

 slight acknowledgment of his great services to the cause of the zoological sciences in 

 this country. 



• From the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, V. p. 88, August, 1850. 



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