PARADISORNIS RUDOLPH!, Finsch 
Prince Rudolph’s Bird of Paradise. 
Paradisornis rudolphi, Finsch, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. ii. p. 385, Taf. xx. (1885).— Finsch and Meyer, op. cit. iii. p. 29 
(1886) . — Fins ch, Ibis, 1886, p. 252, pi. vii — Sharpe, Nature, 1886, p. 340.— D’Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. 
France, xi. p. 509 (1 886).— Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. (2) ii. p. 25 (1887).— Salvad. Agg. Orn. 
Papuasia, pt. ii. p. 163 (1890). 
This wonderful bird is an inhabitant of South-eastern New Guinea, and it is not saying too much to state 
that, among all the extraordinary birds which inhabit the earth, this is one of the most striking. 
Accustomed as naturalists have been to the fantastic coloration of the Birds of Paradise, with their long- 
flowing yellow or red plumes, no one could have expected that a bird existed which had blue streamers, as 
we find to be the case in the present bird. 
The original examples were obtained in the Horseshoe range of mountains by the late Mr. Karl 
Hunstein, and they were described in a joint paper by Dr. Otto Finsch and Dr. A. B. Meyer, the genus 
Paradisornis being characterized by the last-named ornithologist, while the species was dedicated to the late 
Crown Prince of Austria by Dr. Finsch. Air. FI. O. Forbes afterwards met with this fine species in the 
Sogeri district of the Owen Stanley Mountains, but be only obtained females, and this was the case 
subsequently with other collectors. The late Mr. Hugh Romilly’s collection at the Colonial Exhibition 
in South Kensington contained a couple of specimens of the present species, which were afterwards given 
by him to the British Museum, where they still remain : they were likewise female birds, and the male is 
up to the present moment unrepresented in the National Collection. 
The following descriptions are taken from the papers ofDrs. Finsch and Meyer, above referred to : — 
“ Male. Front and sides of the head, neck, and shoulders satiny black, with a dark yellowish-green metallic 
sheen, which disappears behind ; eyelashes long, white, silky ; behind the eye a naked spot ; back of head 
and nape cherry-brown ; back greenish blue mixed with black. Wings above blue, in front brighter, the 
lesser and middle coverts edged with bright blue, as also the tertiaries on the inner webs ; inner webs of 
the wings black. Breast-shield with long feathers, blackish, in certain lights alternately glancing bluish and 
greenish, towards the belly terminating in a well-defined broad bine cross band, and on the sides passing 
into the ultramarine of the ornamental plumes ; belly shining satiny black. Under wing-coverts brownish 
mixed with dark grey ; axillaries exteriorly brownish, interiorly bluish green ; under surface of wings 
blackish grey, with brighter inner edgings on the primaries and bluish on the secondaries. The ornamental 
plumes are divided into two portions : the larger outer ones are rather rigid, and on the underside are bright 
ultramarine blue at their bases and pass into lilac; on their uppersides, i. e. on the hinder sides, they are 
shiriino- brown ; the shafts of these feathers above at their bases are white, with the end half brown, below 
they are entirely bright brown. The smaller inner ornamental plumes, which are in part strongly curved 
inwards, are bright blue at their base, in the middle portion ultramarine or cobalt-blue, passing towards the 
apices into bright greenish blue ; upon the smaller ornamental plumes lie as coverts a row of shortened chestnut- 
hrown feathers strongly curved, and upon part of them another row of black feathers. Tail blue above, with 
brighter edgings, and dirty greenish at the base; below it is uniform bright blue : two lengthened middle tail- 
feathers carry at their bases brownish webs on a white shaft ; at the end of the other tail-feathers these webs 
disappear almost entirely, and then again gradually increase to a breadth of half a centimetre the two together ; 
the spatula-shaped tips are about 7 millim. in diameter ; the colour of these feathers is above black, changing 
to violet; below black, with alight blue spot at the tip ; the shafts are black both above and below. Bill 
yellowish white; feet (in dried skin) brownish horn-colour ; iris (according to Hunstein’s information) brown. 
“ Female. Flank-feathers loose and lengthened, on their inner sides greenish blue ; belly rusty reddish with 
dark cross bands ; the feathers on their undersides bluish green ; tail beneath with lightly marked shadings, 
which disappear towards the end of the tail ; thighs black ; feathers of the upper back long, loose, satiny 
black, beneath greenish blue; side-feathers of the hinder neck lengthened and erectile.” 
The figure of the adult male is taken from a drawing made by Mr. J. G. Keulemans from the typical 
specimen, when the latter was sent to England by Dr. Meyer to be figured in the ‘ Ibis.’ Dr. Meyer has very 
kindly supervised Mr. Hart’s figures for me, and made several corrections of details, so that I hope that this 
Plate gives a more correct idea of the bird than any of those previously published. The typical male 
specimen is in the Dresden Museum, and the figure of the female has been taken from one of the examples 
in the British Museum. 
