LYCOCORAX MOROTENSIS, Bernstein . 
Morty Island Paradise-Crow. 
Lycocorax morotensis, Bernst. MSS. — Schlegel, Ibis, 1863, p. 119. — Bernst. J. f. 0. 1864, p. 408. — Finsch, Neu- 
Guinea, p. 173 (1865).— Schlegel, Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 191 (1866). — Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Coraces, 
p. 132 (1867). — Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 186 (1877). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov, xvi. 
p. 199 (1880). — Id. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 496 (1881). — Eudes-Deslongch. Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Caen, i. 
p. 47 (1880).' — D’Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1886, p. 510. — Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, ii. 
p. 147 (1890). — Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, iv. p. xiv (1894). 
Manucodia mortiensis, Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 17, no. 6262 (1870). 
Manucodia morotensis, Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 197, 230 (1883). 
Manucodia morotensa, Rosenb. Mitth. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 40. 
The present species represents in the island of Morotai, or Morty Island, the Lycocorax pijrrliopterus of 
Batchian and Gilolo, and the L. obiensis of the Obi group. The restriction of this peculiar genus to these 
small groups of islands in the Moluccas is one of the interesting facts connected with the distribution of the 
Birds of Paradise. 
L. morotensis is also found in the small island of Ran. It is easily distinguished from its two allies by the 
white base to the inner web of the primaries. 
The species was discovered in Morotai by the late Dr. Bernstein, who gave the following account of it : — 
“ Like the other species of the genus, it inhabits the thick woods and is rarely seen outside of them. It 
generally lives in trees of moderate height, especially where they stand close together, in the tops of which 
it hides closely, so that, though often heard, it is a very difficult bird to see. It is most easily observed, if 
the hunter places himself in the early morning near some tree on the fruit of which the bird comes to 
feed. But even then the greatest attention must he maintained, as the bird does not come flying in like a 
Pigeon, but glides quietly from the top of one tree to the summit of another, lights for an instant on some 
fruit-bearing bough, is seen for a second on the outer branches, and then dives into the thickest of the 
foliage. In all its ways of life there is very little Crow-like, and it seems to feed exclusively on the fruit 
of trees. Its cry is a short, interrupted, monotonous ‘ wuhk ’ or ‘ wunk,’ which is especially heard in the 
morning and evening. My hunters fancied that the note had some similarity to the ringing bark of a dog, 
and called the bird ‘ Burung andjing,’ or ‘Dog-bird.’” 
Adult. General colour black above and below, the wings brown, the primaries lighter than the secondaries, 
and having the base of the inner web conspicuously white ; tail black, shaded with dull green on the outer 
web; bill and feet black. Total length 1 7 inches, culmen 2, wing 8'4, tail 7, tarsus 2. 
The description is taken from a specimen in the British Museum, and the figure in the Plate has been 
drawn from the same bird. 
