CHAP. XIII.] 
THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 
415 
edges of the breast-feathers, brilliant gTeen. An immense tuft of 
dense plumes of a fine orange-buff colour, springs from each side 
of the body, and six of these on each side terminate in a black 
curled rachis or shaft, which form a perfectly unique adornment 
to this lovely bird. To appreciate this wonderful family (of 
which no good mounted collection exists) the reader should 
examine the series of plates in Mr. Elliot’s great work on the 
Paradis eid m, where every species is figured of the size of life, and 
with a perfection of colouring that leaves little to be desired. 
Below the Mpimaehm is one of the elegant racquet-tailed c 1,1 
king-hunters (Tanysiptera galatea) whose plumage of vivid blue 
and white, and coral-red bill, combined with the long spatulate 
tail, renders this bird one of the most attractive of the interest- 
ing family of kingfishers. On a high branch is seated the little 
Papuan parroquet ( Charmosyna papuensis ), one of the Tricho- 
glossidse, or brush-tongued parrots,- — richly adorned in red and 
yellow plumage, and with an unusually long and slender tail. On 
the ground is the well-known crowned pigeon (Goura coronata,) 
a genus which is wholly confined to New Guinea and a few of 
the adjacent islands. One of the very few Papuan mammals, a 
tree-kangaroo (. Dendrolagus inustus), is seated on a high branch. 
It is interesting, as an arboreal modification of a family which in 
Australia is purely terrestrial ; and as showing how very little 
alteration of form or structure is needed to adapt an animal to 
such a different mode of life. 
Reptiles and Amphibia. — Of these classes comparatively little 
is at present known, but there is evidence that the same inter- 
mixture of Oriental and Australian forms that occurs in birds and 
insects, is also found here. Dr. A. B. Meyer, the translator of this 
work into German, and well known for his valuable discoveries in 
New Guinea, has kindly furnished me with a manuscript list of 
Papuan reptiles, from which most of the information I am able 
to give is derived. 
Of Snakes, 24 genera are known, belonging to 11 families. Six 
of the genera are Oriental, — Calamaria, Cerberus , Chrysopelea , 
Lycodon , Chersydrus, and Ophiophagus, Four are Australian, 
