PARADIGALLA CARUNCULATA, 
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, P. Z. S. 1857, p. 6 ; Wall. P. Z. S. 1862, p. 160; id. Malay Arch. ii. p. 257 (1869) ; 
Elliot, Monogr. Parad, pi. xvii. (1873); Salvador!, Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 784 (1875); 
Beccari, c. p. 711 (1875); Sclater, Ibis, 1876, p. 250 ; Salvador!, Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, ix. 
p. 190 (1877) ; Sharpe, Catalogue of Birds, iii. p. 165 (1877). 
Astrapia carunculata, Eydoux et Souleyet, Voy. Bonite, p. 83, pi. 4 (1841) ; Gray, Gen. B, ii. p. 326 (1846) ; 
Schlegel, J. f. O. 1861, p. 386 ; Rosenb. J. f. O. 1864, p- 131 ; Gray, Handl. B. ii. p. 17 (1870). 
The extreme rarity of the present species iiv European collections may be imagined from the fact that Mr. 
Elliot, when writing his monograph of the birds of Paradise five years ago, could only cite two specimens as 
existing in the museums of the world. One of these was the original specimen procured by MM. Eydoux and 
Souleyet during the voyage of the ‘Bonite,’ and still preserved in the Paris Museum; and the second example 
was contained in the rich collection of the Philadelphia Academy. Since that time, however, perfect 
specimens have been obtained by the European travellers who have visited and explored the Arfak Mountains 
in North-western New Guinea. 
It appears, indeed, to be somewhat rare even in this part of the great Papuan island ; for out of five 
hundred and thirty-two specimens of Paradise-birds forwarded to Italy by Dr. Beccari and Mr. Bruljn, only 
fifteen belonged to the present species. The more recent explorers, MM. Laglaize and Raffray, have also 
met with the bird ; and I possess in my own collection a fine pair procured by M. Laglaize in the Arfak 
Mountains. 
Very little has been recorded concerning the habits of the Wattled Bird of Paradise, as the original 
discoverers did not themselves meet with the species in a living state ; and the first person who has given 
us any account of the bird is Dr. Beccari, who has done so much to make us acquainted with the economy of 
the Paradiseidm. In his Ornithological Letter, he writes: — “As to Paradigalla carunculata, I shot one from 
my hut, whilst it was eating the small fleshy fruits of an Urtlca. It likes to sit on the tops of dead and 
leafless trees, like the Mino dumonti. The finest ornament 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 yellow ; 
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.’ ” 
As is the case with so many of the Birds of Paradise, the genus Paradigalla contains but one single 
species ; and indeed it is impossible to find any one which is nearly allied to it. Its somewhat elongated 
tail places it close to Astrapia, which it also resembles in not possessing any of the wiry shafts which adorn 
the tail-feathers of most of the forms of Paradiseidee. A glance at the Plate of Astrapia nigra will show 
how entirely different it is even from that, its nearest ally. 
The following description is taken from Mr. Sharpe’s ‘ Catalogue of Birds ’: — 
Adult male. General colour velvety black above and below, a little browner on the under surface ; wings 
and tail black, the inner secondaries with a purplish gloss under certain lights ; head glossed with metallic 
steel-green ; forehead, lores, and base of lower mandible bare ; over each nostril a small tuft of black 
feathers ; on each side of the base of the bill an erect wattled skin ; round the eye a ring of black plumes ; 
space below and behind the eye bare ; bill and legs black. Total length 11-2 Inches, culmen 0-55, wing 6-15, 
tail 4'85, tarsus L9. 
Adult female. Similar to the male, hut smaller. 
The figures in the accompanying Plate represent the pair of birds in my own collection, obtained by M. 
Laglaize in the Arfak Mountains. For the opportunity of figuring the wattles as they appear in a state of 
nature, I am indebted to my friend Mr. D. G. Elliot, who sent me a sketch of these parts coloured from the 
recently killed bird by M. Raffraj^. 
