SERICULUS CHRYSOCEPHALUS. 



but every where it is apparently of rare occurrence. * Few specimens reach 

 this country, and being deservedly highly prized by dealers, they are soon 

 picked up : it is also sought after to adorn head-dresses, or other female 

 ornaments, for which the skins are used in the same way as those of the 

 paradise birds. 



The length of the adult male is ten inches. The head and back of the 

 neck, running in a rounded point upon the breast, are very deep bright 

 gamboge-yellow, blended into the deepest orange on the centre of the 

 crown of the head. The feathers on these parts differ considerably from 

 the ordinary structure : on the crown, they are thick, short, and feel to the 

 touch like velvet ; on the neck they are longer, and on both parts each fea- 

 ther is slightly crisped, or curled upwards at the tip, as if done artificially ; 

 when examined by a microscope, the individual webs of the feather are 

 only again webbed at the base, and stand perfectly free from each other 

 for half their length ; they are there round and transparent, and are gene- 

 rally club-shaped at the tips. In the young bird, the feathers on these 

 parts do not vary from the ordinary structure. All the other parts of the 

 plumage, except the secondaries and inner webs of the quills, are deep 

 black : those round the eyes, and on the cheek, are of a thick velvety tex- 

 ture, and, with the upper parts, are glossed with bluish reflections. The 

 secondaries are very bright gamboge-yellow, with a narrow edge of black 

 running along the inner webs ; the first quill is the shortest, and is en- 

 tirely black ; the next have the tips and outer webs black, the half of the 

 inner web, and that part of the shaft not running through the black 

 tips is yellow ; as the quills approach the true secondary feathers, the 

 yellow of the inner web extends across the shaft, leaving only a black edge 

 on the outer, which gradually narrows, until it entirely disappears, and the 

 tips only on both webs remain black. The tail contains twelve feathers, 

 and is decidedly forked, the outer feathers being a quarter of an inch 

 longer than those in the centre. The tarsi and feet are deep blackish- 

 brown. 



We have not seen the female ; but from the account given by Mr Vi- 

 gors and Dr Horsfield in the Linnean Transactions, it appears to re- 

 semble nearly the young of the first year. The young male, however, is 

 often in different states of change, and the real characters of it are render- 

 ed more unstable. 



On Plate XX. we have given what we consider to be the young male of 

 the first year, almost before any change has taken place : a very few yel- 



