EPIMACHUS SPECIOSUS. 
Great Promerops. 
Le Grand Promerops de la Nouvelle-Guinee, Sonn. Voy. N. Guin. p. 163, pi. 101. 
Le Promerops brun de la Nouvelle-Guinee, id. tom. cit. p. 164, pi. 100. 
Grand Promerops d paremens /rises, Buff. H. N. Ois. vi. p. 472. 
Promerops de la Nouvelle-Guinee, Buff. PI. Enl. vi. pis. 638, 639. 
Upupa speciosa, Bodd. Tabl. PL Enl. p. 39. 
striata, Bodd. tom. cit. p. 39. 
New- Guinea Brown Promerops, Lath. Gen. Syn. i. pt. 2, p. 694. 
Grand Promerops, Lath. tom. cit. p. 695. 
Upupa fusca, Gm. S. N. i. p. 468. 
magna, Gm. tom. cit. p. 468. 
Le PromSrops rage, Audeh. et Vieill. Ois. Dor. i. pi. 7. 
Le Promerops d large parure, Levaill. H. N. Promer. etGuep. pis. 13, 15. 
Promerops striata, Shaw, Gen. Zool. viii. p. 144. 
superbus, Shaw, tom. cit. p. 145. 
Falcmellus superbus, Vieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxviii, p. 166. 
magnificus, Vieill. tom. cit. p. 167. 
Epimachus magnus, Cuviei’, Regne Anim. i. p. 407. 
superbus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 77.— Wagler, Syst. Av. Epimachus, sp. 1.— Less. Traite, p. 321, 
Atlas, pi. 73. fig. 1. — Rosenb. J. f. O. 1864, p. 123. 
Cinnamolegus papuensis. Less. Ois. Parad. Syn. p. 32. Id. H. N. pis. 39, 40. 
Epimachus speciosus. Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 94.— Schl. Mus. P.-B. Coraces, p. 94.— Elliot, Monogr. Parad. pi. xix. 
— Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 785, ix. p. 190. — Sharpe, Cat. B. iii. p. 162 (1877). 
magnus. Bp. Consp. i. p. 411.— Wall. Ibis, 1861, p. 287.— Id. P. Z. S. 1862, p. 160.— Id. Malay Arch. 
ii. p. 255.— Schl. J. f. 0. 1861, p. 386.— Id. N. T. D. i. p. 332. 
maximus. Gray, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 433.— Id. Hand-l. B. i. p. 105.— Beccari, Ann. Mus, Civic. Genov. 
vii. p. 710. — Id. Ibis, 1876, p. 249, 
In spite of the long list of synonyms with whieh this species has been burdened by naturalists, the actual 
information respecting its habits is almost wanting ; neither can I pretend to give a long account of the bird, 
simply for the reason that there is nothing to tell. I cannot weary my readers with a dissertation on the 
various incidents through which this fine Bird of Paradise has reached the very complicated synonymy which 
has marked its scientific history. Suffice it to say that, owing to our meagre knowledge of the bird in a 
natural state, the males and the females have generally been taken for separate species ; and although im- 
perfect skins have been sent to Europe in some numbers for the last hundred years, we have had to wait 
until quite recently for the gladdening of our eyes by tlie receipt of the perfect bird. 
It is at once the largest and the most remarkable, if not the most beautiful, of the thin-billed Birds of 
Paradise, which comprise the Rifle-birds, the Twelve-wired and the lately discovered Sickle-billed 
Drepanornis. Only two species of Epimachus are known — the subject of the present article, and E. eliioti ; 
the latter is still represented by the single type specimen in my collection, the habitat of which, though 
supposed to be tbe island of Waigiou, is not yet known for certain. 
Mr. Wallace did not meet with the present species during his explorations in Papuasia. He says, 
“ This splendid bird inhabits the mountains of New Guinea, in the same district with the Superb (Lophorina 
atrai) and the Six-shafted {Parotia sexpetinis) Paradise-birds, and, I was informed, is sometimes found in the 
ranges near the coast. I was several times assured by different natives that this bird makes its nest in a 
hole underground, or under rocks, always choosing a place with two apertures, so that it may enter at one 
and go out at the other. This is very unlike what we should suppose to be the habits of the bird ; but it 
is not easy to conceive how the story originated if it is not true ; and all travellers know that native accounts 
of the habits of animals, however strange they may seem, almost invariably turn out to be correct.” 
The following note appears in Dr. Beccari’s Ornithological Letter : — 
“ The have been separated from the other birds of Paradise; but I think this is paradoxical. 
The form and the length of the beak of Epimachus mawimus is most variable ; the young males and females 
