EPIMACHUS SPECIOSUS. 



GREAT SICKLE-BILL BIRD OF PARADISE. 



UPUPA SPECIOSA, Bodd. Tab. Plan. Enlum. (1783), j. 

 UPUPA STRIATA, Bodd. Tab. Plan. Enlum. (1783), 9. 



LE GRAND PROMEROPS DE LA NOUVELLE GUINEE, Sonn. Voy. Nouv. Guin. (1776) p. 163, pi. 101. 

 LE PROMEROPS BRUN DE LA NOUVELLE GUINEE, Sonn. Voy. Nouv. Guin. (1776) p. 164, pi. 100. 

 LE PROMEROPS A LARGE PARURE, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Promerop. et des GuSp. pis. 13 & 15. 

 UPUPA MAGNA, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. pt. i. (1788) p. 468. sp. 7. 

 UPUPA PAPUENSIS, Lath. Ind. Ornith. (1790) vol. i. p. 279. sp. 6. 

 UPUPA SUPERBA, Lath. Ind. Orn. (1790) vol. i. p. 279. sp. 7. 



PROMEROPS DE LA NOUVELLE GUINEE, Buff. Plan. Enlum. nos. 638, 639, vol. vi. 

 UPUPA FUSCA, Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. pt. i. p. 468. sp. 6. 



PARADISEA PROMEROPS, Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. pt. i. p. 467. sp. 3.— Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1811) vol. viii. pt. i. p. 147, juv. 



PROMEROPS SUPERBUS, Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1811) vol. viii. pt. i. p. 145. 



PROMEROPS STRIATA, Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1811) vol. viii. pt. i. p. 144. 



FALCINELLUS SUPERBUS, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. vol. xxviii. p. 166 (1817). 



LE PROMEROPS RAYE, Vieill. Ois. dor. 



GRAND PROMEROPS, Lath. Syn. vol. ii. p. 695, t. 32. 



FALCINELLUS MAGNUS, Vieill. Analyse (1816), p. 47. 



GRAND PROMEROPS A PAREMENS FRISES— Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois. p 472. 

 EPIMACHUS MAGNUS, Cuv. Regn. Anim. (1817) p. 407. 



EPIMACHUS SUPERBUS, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 1.— Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1826) vol. xiv. p. 77— Less. Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 321. sp. 3. 



Atlas, pi. 73. fig. 1.— Von. Rosenb. Journ. fur Ornith. (1864) p. 123. 

 CINNAMOLEGUS PAPUENSIS, Less. Hist. Nat. des Parad. (1835) pis. 39, 40 ; Syn. p. 32. sp. 4. 



EPIMACHUS MAGNUS, Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 411. sp. 1.— Wall. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1862) p. 160.— Id. Ibis (1861), p. 287.— Schleg. 



Neder. Dierk. vol. i. p. 332. — Wall. Malay Archip. vol. ii. p. 255. — Schleg. Journ. fur Ornith. (1861) p. 386. 

 EPIMACHUS SPECIOSUS, Gray, Gen. of Birds (1845), vol. i. p. 94. sp. 1— Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas (1867), p. 94. 

 EPIMACHUS MAXIMUS, Gray, Hand-1. Birds (1869), pt. i. p. 105. No. 1274 — Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1861) p. 433. 



Hab. New Guinea. 



This is another species of which nothing is known, except what can be derived from the inspection of dried, 

 often mutilated skins. The development of its plumes is most wonderful, and cannot fail to excite the admiration 

 even of the most casual observer. Mr. Wallace did not succeed in obtaining it during his long wanderings in 

 the Eastern archipelago. He says that "this splendid bird inhabits the mountains of New Guinea, in the same 

 district with the Superb [Lophorina atra) and the Six-shafted (Parotia sexpennis) Paradise-birds, and, I was informed 

 is sometimes found in the ranges near the coast. I was several times assured by different natives that this bird 

 makes its nest in a hole underground, or under rocks, always choosing a place with two apertures, so that it may 

 enter at one, and go out at the other. This is very unlike what we should suppose to be the habits of the bird ; 

 but it is not easy to conceive how the story originated if it is not true ; and all travellers know that native 

 accounts of the habits of animals, however strange they may seem, almost invariably turn out to be correct." 



In 1816, Vieillot, in his 'Analyse,' page 47, proposed the generic term of Falcinellus for this species, using as 

 his type the Promerops de la Nouvelle Guinee of Buffon's ' Planches Enluminees,' 638, 639, vol. vi. This, however, 

 could not be adopted, since the same term had been proposed by Bechstein in 1803 (Gem. Naturg.) for a species 

 of Heron; and Cuvier's appellation of Epimachus, proposed in his ' Regne Animal,' 1817, p. 407, is therefore the 

 next in order. 



