URAN0RN1S RUBRA (. Daud .). 
Red Bird of Paradise. 
Paraclisea rubra, Lacep. Mas. Paris— Daud. Tr. d’Orn. ii. p. 271 (1800).— Yieill. Ois. Dor. ii. p. 14 (1802).— 
Le Yaill. Ois. Parad. i. p. 23 (1806).- — Cuv. Regn. An. i. p. 403 (1817). — Yieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxx. 
p. 114, pi. (1819). — Ranz. Elem. diZool. iii. pt. 4, p. 68, pi. xii. fig. 1 (1822).— Vieill. Enc. Meth. p. 907 
(1823).— Id. Gal. Ois. i. p. 152, pi. 99 (1825). — Dumont, Diet. Sc. Nat. xxvii. p. 506 (1825). — Stephens, 
Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 76 (1826). — Less. Voy. Coq., Zool. pi. 27 (1826).— Wagl. Syst. Av., Paradisea, p. 101, 
sp. 3 (1827).— Less. Man. d’Orn. i. p. 393 (1828). — Id. Voy. Coq., Zool. i. pt. 2, p. 660 (1828).— Drapiez, 
Diet. Class. Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 46 (Jan. 1828).— Cuv. Regn. An. 2nd ed. i. p. 427 (1829). — Less. Traite 
d’Orn. p. 336, pi. 37. tig. 1 (1831). — Id. Ois. Parad. Syn. p. 8, & Hist. Nat. p. 160, pis. 7 ( d ), 8 ( ? ) 
(1835).— Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 331 (1837).— Gray & Mitchell, Gen. B. ii. p. 322, pi. 79 (1847).— 
Blytli, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 106 (1849) —Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 413 (1850).— Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 214 
(1851). — Horsf & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 548 (1856-58).— Scl. Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. 
ii. p. 163 (1858).— Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 194— Id. Cat. B. New Guin. pp. 36, 59 (1859).— 
Wall. Ibis, 1859, p. Ill, 1861, pp. 211, 287, 290.— Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, pp. 431, 436.— Schl. 
J. f. O. 1861, p. 385.— Wall. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, pp. 157-161. — Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. 
Ind. xxv. p. 245 (1863). — Id. J. f. O. 1864, p. 130. — Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 173 (1865). — Schl. Nat. 
Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 249 (1866). — Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Coraces, p. 84 (1867)- — Id. Dierent. Vogels, 
p. 170 (c 1869). — Wall. Malay Archip. ii. pp. 351, 353, 367, 397, 419 (1869). — Beccari, Ann. Mus. 
Genov, vii. p. 713 (1875).— Salvad. op. cit. viii. p. 402 (1876). — Rosenb. Malay. Arch. p. 359 
(1879). — Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 450. — Nehrk. J. f. O. 1885, p. 34. — Guillem. Proc. Zool. 
Soc. 1885, p. 653. — D’Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1886, pp. 506, 509. 
Le Paradis rouge, Yieill. Ois. Dor. ii. p. 14, pi. 3 (1802). 
V Oiseau de paradis rouge, Le Yaill. Ois. Parad. i. pi. 6 (1806). 
Paradisea sanguinea, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 1, p. 487, pi. 59 (1809). — Temtn. Man. d’Orn. i. p. lv (1820).— 
Raffl. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 300 (1821). — Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 16, no. 6249 (1870).— Elliot, 
Monogr. Parad. pi. 4 (1873). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Genov, vii. p. 782 (1875). — Gould, Birds of New 
Guinea, i. pi. 31 (1877). — Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 170 (1877). — Eudes-Deslongeh. Ann. 
Mus. Caen, i. p. 25 (1880). — Cory, Beautiful and Curious Birds, part vi. (1883). — Musschenbr. 
Dagboek, pp. 188, 221 (1 883).— Rosenb. Mitth. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 31. 
Red Bird of Paradise, Lath. Gen. Hist. Birds, iii. p. 186 (1822). 
Uranornis rubra, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, ix. p. 191 (1876).— Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. ii. p. 623 (1881). — 
Id. op. cit. iii. p. 553 (1882). — Id. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 160 (1890). 
The brilliant red flank-plumes of this Bird of Paradise would suggest that it is closely allied to Paradisea 
raggiana and P. decora . I fully agree, however, with Count Salvadori as to the advisability of separating 
it generic-ally from the genus Paradisea, as the extraordinary form of the central tail-feathers, the erectile 
tufts of feathers on each side of the head, and the composition of the flank-plumes are all characters of 
sufficient weight to justify its separation. 
Although some writers have recorded the species from New Guinea, it would seem that all statements as 
to its occurrence in the Great Papuan Island must he considered to he erroneous, and the home of the Red 
Bird of Paradise is undoubtedly in the islands of Waigiou and Batanta. It will doubtless also he found in 
some of the adjacent islands, as it was collected in the small island of Ghemien by the late Dr. Bernstein. 
The development of the central tail-feathers in the adult male of this species is one of the most curious 
and interesting features in the economy of any species belonging to this extraordinary family of birds. The 
female lacks the beautiful decorations of the male, and the young male resembles the female at first, hut 
gradually assumes the adult plumage. Count Salvadori, as a result of the examination of a large series of 
specimens, believes that the first change takes place in the feathers of the head, where the beautiful green 
plumes make their appearance, and that probably at the same time the central tail-feathers commence their 
development, while the red flank-plumes are the last to appear. 
The central tail-feathers are at first shorter than the others, and as they grow the web disappears from 
the middle of the feather, leaving a spatula or racket at the end. At first the shaft is brown, and Count 
Salvadori thinks that the black and hollowed shaft of the adult is assumed only by successive moults; but I 
fancy that the change takes place more rapidly, as it is evident that the shaft of the feather broadens and 
