LOPHORHINA MINOR, 
Lesser Superb Bird of Paradise. 
Lophorhina superha mimr^ Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, x. p. 242 (1885). 
Lophorhina minor, Finsch u. Meyer, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. ii. p. 376, pi. xvii. (1885). — Meyer, op. cit. iii. p. 181, 
cum fig. (1886). 
As Dr. Meyer has shown, the form of the liead-shield in this species is different from that of Lophorhina 
superha, and would he quite sufficient to distinguish it, without the additional characters of the nasal plumes 
and the smaller dimensions, both of which serve to separate the south-eastern bird from its north-western 
representative in New Guinea. 
In the single adult male of L, minor that has come under our notice, the nasal plumes are so disarranged 
that we cannot make out their form for certain, but they appear to he erect instead of spreading out in a 
small fan, as in L. superba. They are so figured by Dr. Madarasz in the ‘ Zeitschrift ’ above quoted, and 
these plumes may he erroneously figured in our Plate of the present bird. 
Lophorhina minor is so far oidy known from the Astrolabe Mountains in South-eastern New Guinea. The 
person who discovered it appears to have been Mr. Hunstein, one of the most energetic explorers in that 
region. He seems to have sent a considerable series of specimens from the Horseshoe range, as the 
British Museum was able to secure a pair of adults and a young male out of the duplicates. Mr. Forbes 
has more recently procured the species in the Sogerl district of the Astrolabe range; but unfortunately all 
his specimens were out of plumage, having been collected during the rainy season. 
The differences between the males of L. minor and L. superha have been alluded to above, and they are 
apparent on a comparison of the Plates. 
The female appears to differ from the female of L. superha in being olive-brown instead of chestnut on 
the back, and in having the wings bay externally instead of chestnut. The light eyebrow is also more 
prolonged and the underparts paler buff. 
The figures in the Plate, which represent a male and female of the natural size, have been drawn 
from a pair of birds in the British Museum, collected by Mr. Hunstein. 
[R. B. S.] 
