like if, frequent the tops of high trees, but are very silent ; whereas the loud cry of the Great Bird of Paradise 
at ouce calls attention to its presence, and causes it to fall a tolerably easy prey to the hunter.” 
Dr. Beceari has published the following note : — “ Epimachus maximus and Astrapia gularis are only 
found on the highest and most difficult peaks of Mount Arfak, nearly always above 6000 feet elevation. 
Specimens in dark plumage are common enough ; but those which have attained perfect plumage are rare, 
perhaps because they take some years to acquire it. Both of them live on the fruits of certain Pandanacete, 
and especially on those of the Freycinetice , which are epiphytous on the trunks of trees. The irides of the 
large Epimachus are dark brick-red, those of the Astrapia almost black ; the neck-feathers of the latter are 
erectable, and expand into a magnificent collar round the head. The first day I went out at Atam, on 
June 23, I got both these species (two specimens of each), besides one Drepanornis albertisi, three 
Paradigallce , one Parotid , and several other wonderful kinds of birds. It was a memorable day, because 
I ascended one of the peaks, and was surprised to find myself surrounded by four or five species of Vaccinium 
and Rhododendron ; I also found an Umbellifer (a Dryads') and various other plants common to the mountains 
of Java, and there were also some mosses a foot and a half in height.” 
Adult male. General colour above velvety black, with a purplish gloss; the wings black externally, 
glossed with purple ; tail-feathers black, with wavy lines of dusky black under certain lights, the two centre 
feathers very long and glossed with rich purple ; feathers of the head black, dense and velvety in texture, 
with a steel-blue gloss ; from the nape a shield of golden-green feathers springs, and the feathers of the 
hind neck are very long and tipped with the same golden green ; from each side of the nuchal shield 
spreads a ruff of velvety steel-black plumes ; the feathers of the throat are also steel-black, and encircled by a 
band of brilliant golden copper, which extends from behind the eye down the sides of the neck and encircles 
the throat ; rest of under surface of body rich velvety grass-green, the lateral plumes of the breast tipped 
with burnished emerald-green ; the sides of the body and under wing- and tail-coverts dusky black : bill 
and legs black; “iris almost black” ( Beceari ). Total length 28 inches, culmen TO, wing 8*8, tail 7, 
centre feathers 18. 
Dr. Guillemard says that the bill and feet are black and the iris bright red in the male. 
The female is quite different from the male. I copy the description from Count Salvador's ‘Ornitologia,’ 
as the only example in the British Museum is not quite perfect : — 
“ Head coal-black ; the sides of the neck with a tuft of dusky black plumes of rather long feathers, 
commencing from the region of the ear; back dusky black, the rump and upper tail-coverts slightly paler; 
forepart of neck dusky black and glossy; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts black, marked with 
greyish transverse lines ; wings dusky, the greater coverts and outer quills rufous olive, vermiculated with 
dusky brown ; quill-lining rufous ; under wing-coverts brown, varied with black ; tail very long, graduated, 
dusky brown, with obsolete cross-markings ; bill and feet black.” 
The young male, according to Count Salvadori, resembles the adult female, but is somewhat darker on 
the back, and has the transverse barring of the underparts somewhat less distinct. According to Baron von 
Rosenberg, who describes the transition plumage of the young male, it would appear that the change from 
the immature livery to that of the adult is effected by a gradual alteration in the pattern of the feather, as 
is often the case with the Birds of Paradise. 
The Plate is the same as that published by the late Mr. Gould in his ‘ Birds of New Guinea,’ and the 
description of the male is taken from the ‘ Catalogue of Birds.’ 
With regard to the White-winged Paradise-bird of Latham (Gen. Syn. Suppl. p. 92= Paradise a 
leucoptera, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 196), Count Salvadori thinks that it may have been a variety or a 
manufactured specimen of the present species. 
