MANUCODIA ATT* A. 



BLACK MANUCODE. 



PHONYGAMA ATRA, Less. Voy. Coq., texte (1826), vol. i. p. 638— Id. Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 344. sp. 2, juv— Gray, Gen. Birds, vol. if. 

 (1845) p. 303. sp. 3. 



MANUCODIA ATRA, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1859) p. 158. sp. 49, (1861) p. 436.— Id. Hand-1. Birds, pt. ii. (1870) p. 17. sp. 6260. 

 CHALYBEA ATRA, Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas (1867), p. 121. 



Hab. New Guinea (Less., Wall.) ; Arou, Salwatti, Waigiou, Ghemien (Bebnstein). 



Lesson, who first described this species as distinct from the Manucodia chalybea on specimens procured by 

 himself from New Guinea, in the work published on the voyage of the Coquille, remarks as follows: — 



"Among the numerous Birds of Paradise that the inhabitants of New Guinea brought every day on board 

 were found the Calybes, deprived of their legs and feet, and a stick thrust through the body, as is done 

 with the true Birds of Paradise. Also we procured several times in our hunts a bird which only differed 

 from that of which we speak by its darker plumage and by the proportions of the body, bill, wings, and tail. 

 We regard it as a distinct species from the Calybe of authors; for all those that we saw were adults, and in 

 perfect plumage, and were not at all to be confounded with the ordinary Calybe either before or after moulting. 



"This Calybe lives alone in the forests of New Guinea. We met with it several times perched amid the 

 great trees whose fruits it seeks ; in its habits it appears closely to resemble the Crow. The Papuans give it 

 the name of maminimey 



Head covered with short upright feathers, closely pressed together, with the throat and neck a beautiful light 

 green. Back and wings cold metallic green, with a slight purplish tinge on the secondaries. Primaries dark brown. 

 Underparts light green similar to the back. Tail black, with a purple tinge, strongest in the centres of the webs, 

 between the shaft and the edge. Bill and feet black. 



The figures in the Plate are life-size. 



