CICINNURUS REGIUS. 
King- Bird of Paradise. 
The supposed King of the greater Birds of Paradise, Edwards, Birds, iii. pi. 3 (^1750). 
Le Petit Oiseau de Paradis, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 136 (1760). 
Paradisea Regia, Linn. S. N. i. p. 166 (1766). — Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. pt, ii. p. 497, pi. 67 (1809). — Less. Voy. Coq. 
i. p. 658, Atlas, pi. 26 (1826). — ^Wagler, Syst. Av. Paradisea, sp. 7 (1829). — Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 323 
(1847). — Schl. Hand-1. Dierk. i. p. 332, Atlas, pi. 4. fig. 46 (1857). — Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 1 6 (1870). — 
Schl. M. P.-B. Coraces, p. 88 (1867). — Wall. Malay Arch. ii. p. 132 (1869). — Schl. N. T. D. iv. pp. 17, 
49 (1873). — Wagner, Zool. Gart. 1873, p. 10. 
Le Manucode, Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. iii. p. 163, pi. 13. — Id. PI. Enl. iii. pi. 496 (1774). — Vieill. Ois. Dor. (Oiseaux de 
Paradis) ii. p. 16, pi. 5 (1802). — Levaill. Ois. Parad. i. pis. 7, 8 (1806). 
Le Roi des Oiseaux de Paradis, Sonn. Voy. N. Guin. i. p. 156, pi. 95 ('1776). 
King Paradise-hird, Lath. Gen. Syn. i. p. 475 (1782). 
Cicinnurus regius, Vieill. Gal. Ois. i. p. 146, pi. 96 (1825). — Bp. Consp. i. p. 413 (1850). — Elliot, Monogr. Parad. 
pi. 16 (1873). — Salvad. & d’ Albert. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, 1875, p. 832. 
Cicinnurus spiniturnix. Less. Ois. Parad. Synopsis, p. 14(1835). — Id. Hist. N. Ois. Parad. p. 182, pis. 16, 17, 18 
(1835). 
Although one of the smallest of the Paradise-birds, the present species yields to none in the beauty of its 
plumage or the elegance of its form ; while its wire-like caudal plumes are just as remarkable in structure 
as any of the fantastic decorations which adorn the larger kinds. Its range is, for a Bird of Paradise, rather 
extended. It seems to be found all over New Guinea, as it has been met with in the Bays of Lobo and 
Triton and, more recently, in the south-eastern part of the island, at Mount Epa, by Signor d’ Albertis. A 
large number of specimens were collected in Salwatti by the Dutch travellers Bernstein and Von Rosenberg, 
as well as on the opposite coast of New Guinea, at Sorong &c. Von Rosenberg procured it in the island 
of Jobie, and also in the islands of Woxam and Wonourabai of the Aru group. It is from the last-named 
islands and from Mysol that the largest number of specimens have come to this country, from the collections 
of Mr. Wallace and, more recently, of Mr. Cockerell. Notwithstanding tlie fact that specimens from all 
the above localities have been pronounced identical, I am in possession of facts which induce me to believe 
in the existence of, at least, two species of King Birds of Paradise. 
As regards the habits of the Cicinnurus in Aru, it is impossible to do better than to quote the admirable 
account given by Mr. Wallace in his ‘ Malay Archipelago.’ He says, “ The first two or three days of our 
stay here were very wet, and I obtained but few insects or birds ; but at length, when I was beginning 
to despair, my boy Baderoon returned one day with a specimen which repaid me for months of delay 
and expectation. It was a small bird, a littlh less than the Thrush. Merely in arrangement of colours 
and texture of plumage, this little bird was a gem of the first water ; yet these comprised only half its 
strange beauty. Springing from each side of the breast, and ordinarily lying concealed under the wings, 
were little tufts of greyish feathers about two inches long and each terminated by a broad band of intense 
emerald-green. These plumes can be raised at the will of the bird, and spread out into a pair of elegant 
fans when the wings are elevated. But this is not the only ornament. The two middle feathers of the 
tail are in the form of slender wires about five inches long and which diverge in a beautiful curve. 
Almost half an inch of the end of this wire is webbed on the outer side only, and coloured of a fine 
metallic green ; and being curved spirally inwards, they form a pair of elegant glittering buttons, hanging- 
five inches below the body, and at the same distance apart. These two ornaments, the breast-fans and 
the spiral-tipped tail-wires, are altogether unique, not occurring on any other species of the eight thousand 
different birds that are known to exist upon the earth, and, combined with the most exquisite beauty of 
plumage, render this one of the most perfectly lovely of the many lovely productions of nature. My 
transports of admiration and delight quite amused my Aru hosts, who saw nothing more in ‘ Burong raja’ 
than w'e do in the Robin or Goldfinch. Thus one of my objects in coming to the far east was 
accomplished. I had obtained a specimen of the King Bird of Paradise, which had been described by 
Linngeus from skins preserved in a mutilated state by the natives. I knew how few Eui’opeans had ever 
beheld the perfect little organism I now gazed upon, and how very imperfectly it was still known in Europe, 
The emotions excited in the mind of a naturalist who has long desired to see the actual thing which he has 
hitherto known only by description, drawing, or badly preserved external covering, especially when that 
thing is of surpassing rarity and beauty, require the poetic faculty fully to express them. After the first 
