1895.] The Birds of New Guinea. 1065 
guished German naturalists Drs. Finsch and Meyer, whose 
personal knowledge of the great island and its feathered popu- 
lation isso widely appreciated. They named the acquisition 
Astrarchia stephaniae after the Crown Princess of Austria. It 
is like the brilliant Astrapia nigra but differs in some particu- 
lars so important, especially in the form of the tail, as to justify 
its relegation to agenus of itsown. The general color is black 
with violet, green, bronze and blue reflections. ‘There are two, 
if not three bands, athwart the breast, the one glinting out all 
the reflections, the other just below, less broad, glowing with a 
coppery refulgence, while a third so evanescent as to scarcely 
admit of specification, is of a bluish shade. The under parts 
do not fail from their dark surfaces to send forth gleams of 
changing colors—green, golden and brown. The tail is black 
also, upper and under tail coverts blue-black. From the side 
_of the head proceed velvety-black, shining feathers somewhat 
“lengthened ; so too are the loose feathers on the neck. ‘The 
metallic wings—black and glistening—are of a violet-purplish 
cast. The bill, feet and irides are black. As in the Astrapia 
the exterior upper tail feathers are curved back at their ends 
and are of a roseate dye, perceptible but elusive. But it is not 
in the tints but in the arched shape of the tail feathers, that one 
essential difference between the Astrapia nigra—the Paradise 
Pie—and Astrarchia lies. In the first “the tail is regularly 
graduated,” in the second “ the graduation is irregular.” Again 
the head of the latter is less profusely plumaged, nor are the- 
feathers of adornment as long as in the allied genus. On the. 
neck the plumes of Astrarchia are not free and upturned, but. 
laid close upon the underlying feathers. 
