INTRODUCTION. 



XV 



1871. ScHLEGEL, 'TlJDSCHRIFT VOOR DE DlERKUNDE.' 



Sericulus xanthogaster and Ptilonorhynchus inornatus first described as distinct species, from New Guinea. 

 Species 31. 



1872. — Elliot, 'Ibis.' 



A paper upon some of the species of Paradiseidfe, in which two genera are described, namely Xanthomelus 

 and Amblyomis for the Sericulus aureus and Ptilonorhynchus inornatus respectively, and the Sericulus xantho- 

 gaster, Schleg., referred to the genus Chlamydodera, as being the nearest allied to the C. cervineiventris, Gould. 



1873. — Sclater, ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society or London.' 

 Drepanornis Albertisi and Paradisea Raggiana described. Species 33. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



To the majority of persons a Bird of Paradise is a creature possessed of a mass of elegant and brightly 

 coloured waving plumes, these not unfrequently springing from unusual — indeed, almost incredible places. It may 

 therefore, perhaps, be a subject of surprise that I should include in the family of the Paradiseidfe several plain 

 birds remarkable in no degree for their plumage, and in some instances devoid entirely of that excessive and 

 often exquisite adornment which the typical members of the family possess in such an eminent degree. But I 

 believe I am fully warranted in admitting among the Paradiseidfe all the species that are enumerated in this 

 volume; and although some may not possess altogether the dress of a Bird of Paradise, they nevertheless show 

 their affinity to them by peculiar habits, and by the exhibition of an unusual economy, not forgetting to mention 

 also a resemblance in osteological structure. 



An unbroken line of arrangement for the Paradiseidfe is impossible; for, as is the case with nearly all 

 ornithological groups, many links in the chain are wanting, and these have to be supplied by more or less 

 plausible theories. These, however, do not affect to any great degree the reasons that have permitted the species 

 treated of in this Monograph to be regarded as members of the family. I have deemed it unnecessary to 

 divide the entire group into more than three subfamilies, viz. Paradisehife, Epimachinfe ; and for the third I would 

 propose the term Tectonarchinae, comprising those species which are in the habit of erecting bowers in which to 

 disport themselves and exhibit their plumage. The first of these subfamilies contains the typical Birds of Paradise 

 and their allies, and would be represented by the following genera: — Paradisea, Manucodia, Astrapia, Parotia, 

 Lophorina, Biphyllodes, Xanthomelus, Cicinnurus, Paradigalla, and Semioptera. The second possesses those species which 

 are characterized by long, slender, somewhat curved bills ; they are : — Epimachus, Drepanornis, Seleucides, and Ptilmis. 

 And the third is composed of five genera, viz. Sericulus, Ptilonorhynchus, Chlamydodera, JElurcedus, and Amblyomis. 

 I am well aware that the present arrangement and restriction of the genera and species of the birds constituting 

 the Paradiseidfe is very different froin that of any author who has had occasion to treat of the family. With 

 the majority the genera included above have been widely separated in the various classifications attempted, and 

 not only have they constituted portions of different families, but they have even been arranged under distinct 

 Orders. The older authors, such as Linnaeus and Gmelin, knew comparatively few of the species included in 

 this Monograph; and the latter placed them all in the genera Paradisea and Upupa of the order Picfe. Cuvier 

 arranges those species that were known to him, some in the genus Paradisea in the family Conirostres of his 

 Passeraux, and the rest in the fourth family, or Tenuirostres, of the same order. Vieillot has them in the seventh 

 family of his Anisodactyli, just preceding the Corvidfe. Lesson places all the species with which he was acquainted 

 in the family Paradisei, excepting his genus Phony gama {Manucodia of this work), which he puts in the family 

 Laniidfe, tribe Dentirostres. Gray, in his great work on the genera of birds, scatters the species included in 

 this Monograph among various tribes and families. The Paradiseidfe he makes the second family of the tribe 

 Conirostres, and restricts them to seven species — P. apoda, P. minor, P. sanguinea, P. speciosa, P. regia, P. atra, 

 P. sexpennis, ranging them all under the genus Paradisea ; Phonygama is placed among the Corvidfe of the same 



