INTRODUCTION. 



tribe. Epimachus, in which he also includes the species of Ptiloris and Seleucides, he makes his second 

 subfamily of the Upupidfe (of the tribe Tenuirostres in the order Passeres). Sericulus is placed in the fourth 

 subfamily, Oriolinae, of the Turdinas, tribe Dentirostres ; while CMamydodera, Ptilonorhynchus, and Astrapia are found 

 in the first subfamily of the Sturnidee, tribe Conirostres. Schlegel extends the Paradiseidee further than I am 

 able to follow. He places it in his Coraces, and comprises all his genera in one subfamily, Paradisese. The 

 genera are -.—Paradisea, Epimachus, Sericulus, Oriolus, Ptilonorhynchus, Chalybeus, Cracticus and Lycocorax, arranged as 

 enumerated, and containing all the species composing this Monograph, and some more, but having little affinity 

 with the Paradiseidse, that I am able to discover. Cabanis, in the 'Museum Heineanum,' places this family among 

 the Oscines, making Sericulus follow close after Oriolus of the Oriolinse, and separated from CMamydodera and 

 Ptilonorhynchus (also placed in the same subfamily) by Sphecotheres. The second subfamily (Paradiseinfe) contains the 

 true Birds of Paradise; while the third (Epimachinse) comprises the species allotted to it in the present work. 

 Bonaparte has divided the members of the Paradiseidas, as here restricted, to a greater degree than almost any 

 other author. Epimachidfe and Paradiseidae constitute respectively the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth families of his 

 Passeres, tribe Volucres ; Sericulus is placed in the family Oriolidee, Phonygama in the Garrulidse, as are also 

 CMamydodera and Ptilonorhynchus ; and Astrapia and ParadigaMa are found in the family Sturnidse. Blyth, in his 

 ' Catalogue of Birds in the Museum of the Asiatic Society,' makes the Paradiseidas a subfamily (Paradiseinae) of 

 the Corvidas, and includes, besides Paradisea apoda, papuana, and sanguinea and (CicinnurusJ regius and paradiseus 

 (Ptiloris), Sericulus (Chrysocephalus) melinus, Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus (violaceus), P. Smithi (JElurcedus crassirostrisj, 

 and Corcorax leucopterus — thus, with the exception of the last species, agreeing mainly with the arrangement I 

 have made of the family in the present work. 



It will thus be seen that authors generally have considered that the species which I have deemed to compose 

 the Paradiseidas belonged to many families and orders, but that they have in no wise agreed among themselves as 

 to the proper disposition of the species. It is often a matter of great difficulty to give an animal its right position 

 in the natural system; and an acceptable arrangement of the members in any group can only be effected after a 

 careful investigation and comparison have been made as to their natural affinities in both their anatomical structure 

 and outside covering ; and this unfortunately is in very many instances impossible, the necessary material not being 

 available to enable such studies to be carried out. Animals that present no outward similarity, so far as their 

 appearance goes, often prove their affinities to each other by the exhibition of the same habits ; and when these last 

 are unusual and cause their possessors to be conspicuous members of the fauna in the district which they inhabit, 

 it would be very unwise to pass them over as of no consequence in the animal's systematic position, and to regard 

 them only as resulting from eccentric dispositions bestowed for no special purpose. In restricting the Paradiseidas 

 to the species contained in this work, I have been influenced both by their osteologieal affinities and in the case of 

 such genera as compose my third subfamily, Tectonarchinas, by their possessing the same extraordinary habit of bower- 

 building, from which they have derived their trivial name. Some of the reasons which have induced me to consider 

 the Tectonarchinas members of this family are the following : — Sericulus, whose single species is unquestionably 

 a Bower-bird, possesses on the head the peculiar, firm, upright, and closely pressed feathers which constitute 

 one of the chief characteristics of the true Birds of Paradise, and by this, together with its osteologieal structure, 

 exhibits its close affinity to the members of the genus Paradisea. In its habit of constructing a bower, in which 

 both sexes are accustomed to practise various evolutions for their amusement, we have a similarity of economy to the 

 typical Bower-birds, and one of such an unusual character as to make it of paramount importance when looking for 

 the natural affinities of these birds. But the relationship of the members of this subfamily to those of the Paradiseinas 

 is further shown in the fact that, although the species of true Bower-birds composing the genus CMamydodera do not 

 possess feathers upon the head of a like texture as is to be seen in Sericulus and Paradisea, yet some of them 

 exhibit in their brilliant nuchal crests, observable on the males, an affinity to another genus of Paradise-birds, that of 

 Biphyllodes, which has, also only in the males, a similar adornment, but of a more exaggerated form. With regard 

 to the osteologieal structure of the Bower-birds and true Birds of Paradise, Dr. Murie has been kind enough at my 

 request to make comparisons between the skeletons in the British Museum (of three species), with the following 

 results : — 



