PARADISE A MARIAS, Reichenow. 
Mrs. Reichenow’s Bird of Paradise, 
Paradisea maria, Reichenow, Orn. Monatsb. ii. p. 22 (1894). — Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Ora. Club, iv. p. xiii 
(1894).— Reichen. J. f. O. 1897, p. 222, Taf. v. 
This species was discovered in the Finisterre Mountains, in German New Guinea, at a height of 1500 feet, 
and was described by Dr. Reichenow, the type specimen being in the Berlin Museum and, up to the 
time of writing, unique. Dr. Reichenow, however, has given a figure of the species in the ‘Journal fur 
Ornithologie,’ from which one is able to gather that Paradisea maria; partakes of the characters of 
P. augustce-mctorice and Trichoparadisea gulielmi. This opinion has been suggested to me by the notes 
given to me by Mr. Ernst Hartert, who recently examined the type specimen at the meeting of the German 
Ornithological Society in Dresden. The extent of the metallic-green colour on the forehead and throat is 
apparently the same as in Trichoparadisea , and the dissociated webbing of the tips of the long flank-feathers 
is another character in common with the last-named genus. The colour of the under surface recalls that 
of P. minor, hut is not unlike that of T. gulielmi also. The colour of the long flank-feathers is different 
from that of both T. gulielmi and P. august a; -victoria; , but the dark stripes are like those of the latter bird ; 
so that, on the whole, it seems to me more correct to compare P. marine with the last-named species rather 
than with P. minor. 
Dr. Reichenow’s description of the species is as follows : — “Distinguished from P. minor by the metallic- 
green forehead and vertex, by the paler yellow on the occiput, mantle, back, and wing-coverts, and by the 
reddish plumes of the train. Forehead and fore part of crown, as well as the lores and fore-part of cheeks 
and throat, metallic green ; hind part of the head, nape, back, and lesser wing-coverts pale straw-yellow, 
lighter than in P. minor ; greater wing-coverts only narrowly washed with straw-yellow on their edges, not 
yellow on the entire outer web or for the greater part of the feather, as in P. minor ; rump slightly washed 
with straw-yellow. The brown colour on the wings, tail, and under surface of body resembles that of 
P. minor. The ornamental feathers on the flanks have a yellow ground-colour, washed with brownish red 
on the outer web, and especially on the inner one, afterwards becoming white with a brownish-red tint and 
then pure white at the tips ; the shafts are partly yellow', partly reddish brown and white at their ends. 
Some of the outer flank-plumes have a brownish-red outer edge near the base, and this forms on the out- 
spread feathers a continual red longitudinal stripe, whereas in P. minor it is formed of shorter and separate 
stripes of dark chestnut-brown. Owing to the mixture of white and brownish red the mass of the 
ornamental plumes has a kind of greyish-violet appearance. It is worthy of remark that the ornamental 
plumes are more close-set, as in P. minor ; the single barbs show' broad intervals, and those at the end of the 
feathers are without any trace of barbs. Total length 14 inches, wing 7*25, tail 5'5, bill T3, tarsus T8.” 
As there is no specimen of this Bird of Paradise in England, I have been unable to give a figure of it. 
