CNEMOPHILUS MACGREGORII, De Vis. 
Macgregor’s Bird of Paradise. 
Xanthomelus macgregori, Goodwin, Ibis, 1890, p. 153. 
Cnemophilus macgregorii, De Vis, Ann. Rep. Brit. New Guinea, p. 61 (1890). — Id. Colon. Papers, no. 103, p. 115 
(1890). — Id. Ibis, 1891, p. 40. — Sclater, Ibis, 1891, p. 414, pi. x. 
This remarkable form was discovered by Sir William Macgregor during bis expedition to the Owen Stanley 
Mountains, and was procured at Mount Knutsford, at an elevation of 11,000 feet. The only specimen as 
yet known is an adult male, which is at present in the Queensland Museum, but the courteous Director, 
Mr. C. W. De Vis, sent it over to Europe to Dr. Sclater, who described and figured it in ‘ The Ibis.’ 
Mr. Goodwin, who visited England shortly after the close of the Macgregor Expedition, to which he was 
attached as one of the naturalists, communicated an account of the Birds of Paradise observed by him to 
‘ The Ibis,’ and gave a description of this species from memory, which is characterized by Count Salvador*! 
as a “ deseriptio incompleta.” Mr. De Vis, however, to whom was intrusted the description of the 
natural-history objects obtained by the expedition, gave a very full description of the species, for which he 
created the name of Cnemophilus. That he was right in placing it in a distinct genus is beyond question. 
Dr. Sclater, in his paper on the species, has so well summarized its characters that I cannot do better than 
quote his remarks 
“There is certainly a general resemblance in colour and shape between Cnemophilus and Xanthomelus, and 
the feet in both forms are large and strong, although this feature is carried to a much greater extent in 
Xanthomelus, which has the tarsi much stronger and rather longer than Cnemophilus. In Xanthomelus, 
moreover, the scutellations of the front of the tarsus are well marked, whereas in Cnemophilus the scutella 
are fused into one nearly uniform plate. The wings of Cnemophilus are much shorter and more rounded 
than those of Xanthomelus. But it is in the bill of these two forms that the greatest divergence is 
observable. 
“In Xanthomelus the bill is long and strong, the loral plumes are short, and the base of the bill, nostrils, 
and culminal ridge are quite bare. In Cnemophilus the bill is shorter and not so thick, the loral plumes are 
elongated, projecting forwards, and covering the base of the bill so far as to partially cover the nostrils. 
Besides this the frontal plumes are elongated and elevated into a compressed ridge, which is carried forward 
over the culmen and backward to tbe base of the very singular thin crest, composed of five or six lengthened 
feathers, which spring up immediately behind the front. 
“ In these last characters Cnemophilus is quite distinct from other birds, but obviously approaches 
Dlphyllodes. I should be disposed, therefore, to place Cnemophilus along with the Paradise-birds rather 
than along with the Bower-birds, if these tu 7 o groups are to be kept apart. But there can be no doubt that 
the Bower-birds are closely allied to the Paradise-birds, and several well-known recent authorities have 
united them into one family.” 
Tbe figure in the Plate has been drawn from a picture painted by Mr. Keuletnans from the type specimen 
which Mr. De Vis so kindly sent to England for examination. 
