PARADISEA AUGUSTS- VICTORIA, Cab. 
Empress of Germany’s Bird of Paradise. 
Parcidisea augusta-victorice, Cab. J. f. O. 1888, p. 119, 1889, Taf. ii. — Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 159 (1890).— 
Meyer, Ibis, 1890, p. 421. — Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, iii. p. 241 (1891). — Meyer, Abhandl. k, zool. 
Mus. Dresden, 1892-93, no. 3, p. 17.— Id. Ibis, 1893, p. 481, pi. xiii. 
This fine Bird of Paradise is intermediate between Paradlsea minor and P. ragglana. It lias a straw-coloured 
mantle, like P. minor , but in its narrow yellow collar on tbe throat and in its dense velvety fore neck it is 
like P. ragglana. Tbe colour of tbe, flank-plumes, however, being of a golden-orange, serves to distinguish 
it from both of tbe above-named species. 
The habitat of the species appears to be tbe neighbourhood of Huon Gulf in Eastern New Guinea, and 
it is apparently common in that district, as Dr. Meyer has received several specimens from this locality 
procured by the brothers Geisler, who have made considerable collections in that locality, and have even 
obtained the egg of tbe species, of which a most interesting account has been given by Dr. Meyer in ‘ The 
Ibis ’ for 1893. ' 
He gives the following note on the species : — “ The breeding-season of P . augustcs-victorics begins in July, 
when the males, in companies of from three to six, hold their dancing-parties on the high trees. Females 
on the wing bearing nesting-materials were often seen, but for a long time no nest could be discovered. 
The males were also observed with like materials in their bills, though they generally dropped them again. 
At the end of October a young bird made its appearance on tbe mountains behind Butaueng on Huon Gulf. 
At this time of the year the rainy season (S.E. monsoon) generally ceases, and the dry N.W. monsoon 
then prevails till the beginning of April. The moulting of the Bird of Paradise begins at the erid of October ; 
in January tbe gorgeous new feathers begin to sprout, but it is only in July that the breeding-plumage 
becomes fully developed in its finest phase. The brothers Geisler once observed this Paradise-bird 
robbing the nest of Chalcophaps stephani ; a specimen kept in captivity also sucked other eggs with avidity. 
“According to the present state of our knowledge, P. august ce -victories has only a narrow range along the 
borders of Huon Gulf, north of which, in Astrolabe Bay, P. Jinschi occurs, and in South and South-east New 
Guinea P. ragglana, which is represented on the D’Entrecasteaux Islands by P. decora. It appears that red 
and yellow Paradise-birds do not occur together, but represent each other. According to the Geislers, 
P. augustcs-victorics never changes its hunting-ground.” 
Quite recently, Dr. Reichenovv has described, under the name of P. maria , a Bird of Paradise from the 
Finisterre Mountains, which appears to be intermediate between P. minor and P. augustcs-victorics . 
The discovery of an authentic egg of a Bird of Paradise is a very interesting event, as it proves that these 
birds lay an egg unlike those of the Corvidae, and apparently characteristic of the family. The first authentic 
egg appears to have been described by Dr. Pierson Ratnsay in 1883, being that of P. ragglana. In 
1884 Dr. Meyer described and figured the egg of P. apoda. In 1892 Mr. Philip Crowley exhibited 
an egg of P. ragglana from South-eastern New Guinea, at a meeting of the British Ornithologists 
Club, held on the 21st of December of that year. 
In ‘The Ibis’ for October 1893 Dr. Meyer has given a figure of the egg of P. augustcs-victorics, with the 
following description of it : — “ The general superficial impression made by these eggs calls to mind those 
of certain Rails, — some specimens of the eggs of Crex pratcnsls, for instance, having a similar appearance. 
The shell is coarse, with fine indentations and single deep pores, as in Coracias ; it is everywhere polished 
and glossy, except a few of the paler and smaller spots, which are dull and glossless. The ground-colour is 
pale pinkish buff(c/. Ridgway, Nomencl. of Col. v. 14, but lighter), longitudinally streaked and spotted over 
the greater part of the large end. The darker streaks are remarkable for their length (10-15 mm. long, 
2-4 mm. broad, or even narrower) ; the deeper-lying spots are rosy grey, the darker longitudinal streaks 
mostly reddish brown (walnut-brown, Ridgway, pi. iii. 7), but mixed with lighter and darker tints. There 
are several very dark spots, others are smaller and of a glossless brownish yellow; others, again, of this 
same colour are glossy. The small end of the egg has few spots ; the pole of the large end is almost 
clear of spots. 
“ The form is ovate (Ridgway, xvi. 1), but more lengthened ; tbe size 38x25'5 and 36’5x25 mm., and 
the weight 0 7 gr. 
