PODARGUS PAPUENSIS, Quo?/ et G aim. 
Papuan Podargris. 
Podargus Papuensis, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de l’Astrol., Ois. t. 13. — Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 45, 
Podargus, sp. 9. — Bonap. Consp. Gen. Ay., p. 57, Podargus, sp. 6. 
The great country of Australia is certainly the head-quarters of the larger members of the Caprimulgidce , 
constituting the genus Podargus, of which the present species may be considered a typical example. Of this 
fine bird several specimens were procured during the late voyage of Her Majesty’s Ship Rattlesnake, under 
the command of Captain Owen Stanley, with Mr. MacGillivray as Naturalist, whose names will ever hold a 
prominent place in the annals of science for their discoveries in various branches of natural history. All 
the specimens were obtained at Cape York, the contiguity of which to New Guinea induced me to believe 
the bird to he identical with the one described and figured by MM. Quoy and Gaimard in the Voyage of the 
Astrolabe under the name of Podargus Papuensis ; hut on comparing the Australian bird with their plate, I 
had some doubts on the subject ; I therefore conveyed the specimen to Paris and Leyden, for the purpose ot 
instituting a comparison between it and the original New Guinea examples from which MM. Quoy and 
Gaimard took their figure and description ; and from the following note made at the time, it will be seen that 
I came to the conclusion that they are identical. I think it necessary to mention this, because my Plate and 
that in the Voyage of the Astrolabe will not be found to agree : every care has been taken to render 
mine as correct a representation of the bird as possible : any comment on that in the French work 
is unnecessary. 
“The Podargus from Cape York is too near to P. Papuensis to rank as a distinct species. The two 
specimens in the Leyden Museum differ very considerably in colour ; one being freckled with fine markings 
of brown and buff, like the common Podargus of Australia, the other covered with large blotches of greyish- 
white and conspicuous markings of brown and black from the crown of the head to the end of the tail-feathers; 
the breast too of the larger specimen is conspicuously blotched with white, while that of the smaller one 
is finely freckled with grey, brown and black; the thighs of both are darkish brown. The Cape York 
specimen is precisely the same size as the larger of these birds, in colour it is somewhat intermediate 
between the two, but most nearly resembles the lighter-coloured one ; its thighs are of a lighter brown, 
slightly tinged with olive, than either of the Leyden specimens, both of which are from New Guinea. The 
Paris specimen has a larger and more denuded bill than those at Leyden, but in other respects they are very 
similar.” 
The P. Papuensis is the largest species of the genus yet discovered ; the beauty of its markings and the 
extreme length of its cuneate tail render it also one of the most graceful. The only specimen that came 
into my possession from Mr. MacGillivray, for the purpose of figuring, before being deposited in the National 
Collection, was a male. This, as will be seen in the accompanying Plate, is light brown, beautifully marbled 
on the under surface with large blotches of white. I have another specimen, received through a different 
channel, but also from Cape York, which is said to be the female ; and such, judging from its redder 
colouring and smaller size, I believe to be the case, as a similar difference is found to exist between the 
sexes of P. marmoratus. 
The male has the whole of the upper surface mottled with greyish-white, brown and black, presenting a 
very close resemblance to some of the larger kinds of moths, the lighter tints prevailing in some parts and 
the darker in others ; on the primaries the marks assume the form of bars, and are of a redder hue ; tips 
of the coverts white, forming irregular bars across the wing ; tail very similar, but here also the markings 
assume the form of alternate darker and lighter hands with a rufous tint on the edges of the feathers ; the 
undersurface is much lighter than the upper; the greyish -white assumes a larger and more hlotch-like form, 
and the darker marks that of an irregular gorget across the breast ; bill and feet olive. 
The female, which I think somewhat immature, is altogether of a more sandy hue ; the dark marks proceed 
down the centre of the feathers, and terminate in a round spot of buff ; the wing-coverts are tipped with 
white, and the lighter blotches on the wing are very conspicuous ; the under surface, like the upper, is also 
of a redder hue than in the male, and the markings are of a smaller and more freckled character. 
The figure is that of an adult male of the natural size. 
