ASTRAPIA NIGRA. 



INCOMPARABLE BIRD OF PARADISE. 



GORGET BIRD OF PARADISE, Lath. Gen. Syn. (1782) p. 478, pi. xx.— Id. Gen. Hist. vol. iii. (1822) p. 196. sp. 14. 



PARADISEA NIGRA, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. pt. i. (1788) p. 401. sp. 5.— Bechst. Kurz. Uebers. (1811) p. 132. sp. 7. 



PARADISEA GULARIS, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. (1790) p. 196, sp. 5— Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. vii. pt. ii. (1809) p. 501, pis. 69 & 70. 



LA PIE DE PARADIS OU L'INCOMPARABLE, Levaill. Hist. Nat. Ois. Parad. vol. i. (1806) pis. 20, 21, & 22. 



LE HAUSSE-COL DORE, Vieill. Ois. Dor. vol. ii. (1802) p. 22, pis. 8 & 9. 



EPIMACHUS NIGER, Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas, (1867) p. 94. 



L'OISEAU DE PARADIS A GORGE D'OR, Sonnini, edit. Buff. t. ix. p. 23. 



ASTRAPIA GULARIS, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. torn. i. p. 109, pi. 107 (1825).— Less. Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 338.— Schleg. Journ. fur Ornith. 



(1861) p. 386.— Von Rosenb. Journ. fur Ornith. (1864) p. 131.— Less. Ois. Parad. (1835), Syn. p. 18. sp. 8.— Id. Hist. Nat. p. 106, 

 pis. 21, 22, & 23. 



ASTRAPIA NIGRA, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 414.— Gray, Gen. Birds, vol. ii. p. 326. sp. 1.— Id. List Gen. Birds (1855), p. 65.— Id. 



Proc. Zool. Soc. (1861) p. 436— Wall. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1862) pp. 154, 155, 159, & 160.— Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. xiv. (1826) sp. 75 — 

 Wall. Malay Archip. vol. ii. p. 257. 



Hab. New Guinea (Interior), Island of Jobie? (Schlegel). 



I have had occasion frequently, when writing of the birds comprised in this Monograph, to call attention to 

 the extraordinary and unusual display of most beautiful plumage presented for our admiration by many of the 

 members of the Paradiseidae. But in the present instance words, equally with all attempts at pictorial 

 representation, fail to express the gorgeous appearance of the wonderful creature whose portrait, so far as art 

 can accomplish, is here given. It would seem as if Nature herself had striven to surpass her previous creations 

 in the production of this magnificent bird, and to the liberal gifts of tufts, and crest, and lengthened tail had 

 added that of the most brilliant colouring — so bright and fiery in certain parts as almost to cause the artist to 

 despair of representing it by the ordinary means. . In fact, we may well feel assured that nothing in the power 

 of man can give an adequate idea of the splendid appearance of an adult male of this species when at liberty 

 in his woods ; his dress of metallic colours flashes back, as he moves amid the forest, in equally brilliant 

 scintillations, the fiery rays of a tropical sun. The interior of New Guinea, among whose unknown mountain- 

 ranges so many of this family have their homes, is also the native region of the Astrapia nigra ; and from this 

 terra incognita a few mutilated skins have at various times been brought to Europe. Until very lately, no white 

 man had been able to penetrate into the interior of New Guinea, researches having been confined to the 

 coasts, all ingress having been opposed by the savage tribes who inhabit the land, either from their fear of 

 some unknown evil falling upon themselves or from jealousy that a rival tribe might reap some supposed 

 advantage from the strange Avhite man's presence among them. Another reason to explain the great difficulty of 

 travelling in New Guinea is the fact that disputes between the tribes of the coast and those of the interior 

 are constantly arising ; and those which to-day might be at peace with each other, and willing to allow a 

 traveller to pass their respective boundaries, might be to-morrow in deadly strife (so slight are the circumstances 

 that inaugurate savage warfare, and so rapidly does it attain its deadliest phase), and therefore render 

 it impossible for any one to pass from one nation to another. Only one European has ever succeeded in 

 penetrating to the mountains of New Guinea — M. von Rosenburg, who, after several years of vain effort, 

 only lately succeeded in finding a vulnerable spot, and was enabled to reach the mountains and ascend to the 

 height of from 4000 to 5000 feet. This traveller was sent out by the Government of the Netherlands in the 

 service of science to procure materials to enrich their aheady unrivalled museum in Leyden ; and the success 

 of their efforts (for M. von Rosenburg and his co-labourers have made many discoveries in natural science in 

 their journeyings in the Eastern archipelago) only shows how much a well-directed effort can accomplish towards 



