PARADIGALLA CARUNCULATA, Less 
Wattled Bird of Paradise. 
Paradigalla carunculata, Less. Ois. Parad. p. 242 (1835). — Id. Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 1. — Bp. Consp. i. p. 414 (1850). — - 
Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1857, p. 6. — Id. Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 164 (1858). — Wallace, Proc. Zool. Soc. 
1862, p. 160. — Rosenb. Journ. fLir Ora. 1864, p. 131. — Wallace, Malay Arch. ii. pp. 257, 258 (1869).— 
Elliot, Monogr. Parad. pi. 17 (1873). — Beccari, Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 711 (1875). — Salvad. tom. 
cit. pp. 784, 899, ix. p. 190 (1876). — Sclater, Ibis, 1876, p. 250. — Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. iii. 
p. 166 (1877). — Gould, Birds of New Guinea, i. p. 16 (1878). — Eudes-Deslongchamps, Ann. Mus. cl’Hist. 
Nat. Caen, i. p. 20 (1880).— Salvad. .Orn. della Papuasia, etc. ii. p. 530 (1881). — Guillemard, Pore. 
Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 151. — D’LIamonv, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xi. p. 509 (1886). — Salvad. Agg. Ora. 
Pap. ii. p. 151 (1890). — Wallace, Malay Arch. 2nd ed. pp. 435, 437 (1890). 
Astrcipia carunculata, Eydoux et Souleyet, Voy. ‘ Bonite,’ Zool. i. p. 83, Atlas, Ois. pi. 4 (1841).— Gray, Gen. B. ii. 
p. 326 (1846). — Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 194. — Id. List B. New Guinea, pp. 37, 59 (1859). — Id. 
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 436. — -Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 173 (1885). — Rosenb. Malay. Arch. p. 558 
(1879). — Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 194, 227 (1883). — Rosenb. Mitth. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 40. 
Paradisea carunculata, Schlegel, Journ. fur Orn. 1861, p. 386. 
At first sight there is nothing very attractive in the appearance of this Bird of Paradise, which might be 
considered more curious than striking to look at. On a closer examination, however, it will be found that 
it is clothed in velvety plumage of a beautiful texture, while its wattles, of three colours, are unique among 
the family of Paradise-birds. In my ‘Catalogue of Birds’ I have placed the genus Paradigalla in close 
proximity to Astrcipia., and in this arrangement Count Salvadori concurs in the main, hut he also points out 
that in many of its characters it also approaches Parotid and Lophorhlna. It has the velvety plumage of both 
the latter genera, and has the first two primaries pointed, as in Lophorhlna. In Parotlci these quills are 
curiously notched at the ends, and the secondaries are as long as the primaries, while the tail is much 
graduated, the centre feathers being the longest. In all these characters Paradigalla assimilates to Parotla, 
but it has the two centre tail-feathers very much lengthened and pointed, considerably exceeding the other 
tail-feathers in length. 
The early history of the species has been given in detail by Count Salvadori. It was first named by 
Lesson in 1835, in the Synonymic Index to his ‘Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis;’ but the 
description is not very complete, and he does not say whence he described the specimen or in whose 
collection the bird was. It may probably have been the one mentioned by him in 1840 as being in the 
collection of Dr. Abeille of Bordeaux. In 1841 Messrs. Eydoux and Souleyet, the Naturalists attached 
to the ‘ Bonite,’ described the present bird as Paradigalla caronculata, but made no allusion to Lesson’s 
having named the species. During the voyage of the ‘Bonite’ they procured two mutilated specimens in 
New Guinea, one of which appears to have ultimately gone to Philadelphia. For many years these 
imperfect skins remained the only examples known in Museums, and even Baron von Rosenberg did not 
succeed in obtaining the species in perfect condition. The first examples of complete skins of the 
Paradigalla were obtained by Dr. A. B. Meyer, and during recent years many have been procured by 
Dr. Beccari and Mr. Bruijn’s hunters. 
Dr. Beccari has given the following note on his experience of the present species : — 
“ As to Paradigalla, I shot one from my hut, whilst it was eating the small fleshy fruits of an Urtica. 
It likes to sit on the tops of dead and leafless trees, like the Mino dumonti. The finest ornaments of this bird 
are the wattles, which in the dried skin lose all their beauty. The upper ones, which are attached one on 
each side of the forehead, are of a yellowish-green colour; those at the base of the lower mandible 
are blue, and have a small patch of orange-red beneath. The Arfaks call the Paradigalla ‘ Happoa.’ ” 
Dr. Guillemard states that M. Laglaize told him that the colour of the caruncles was as follows : — 
The upper caruncle is orange, the middle one bright leaf-green, and the lower one red. It will be noticed 
that these colours are somewhat different from those given by Dr. Beccari ; but as the latter 
gentleman made his observations on specimens killed by himself, there can be no doubt as to their 
accuracy. 
