the habits are also given by Mr. Wallace : — “ The Great Bird of Paradise is very active and vigorous, and 
seems to be in constant motion all day long. It is very abundant, small flocks of females and young males 
being constantly met with ; and though the full-plumaged birds are less plentiful, their loud cries, which are 
heard daily, show that they also are very numerous. Their note is ‘ Wauk-wauk-wauk-wok-wok-wok,’ and 
is so loud and shrill as to be heard a great distance, and to form the most prominent and characteristic 
animal-sound in the Aru Islands. The mode of nidification is unknown ; but the natives told me that the nest 
was made of leaves placed on an ants’ nest, or on some projecting limb of a very lofty tree, and believe that 
it contains only one young bird. The egg is quite unknown ; and the natives declared they had never seen 
it ; and a very high reward offered for one by a Dutch official did not meet with success. They moult about 
January or February ; and in May, when they are in full plumage, the males assemble early in the morning 
to exhibit themselves. This habit enables the natives to obtain specimens with comparative ease. As soon 
as they find that the birds have fixed upon a tree on which to assemble, they build a little shelter of palm 
leaves in a convenient place among the branches ; and the hunter ensconces himself in it before daylight, armed 
with his bow and a number of arrows terminating in a round knob. A boy waits at the foot of the tree ; and 
when the birds come at sunrise, and a sufficient number have assembled, and have begun to dance, the 
hunter shoots with his blunt arrow so strongly as to stun the bird, which drops down, and is secured and 
killed by the boy without its plumage being injured by a drop of blood. The rest take no notice, and fall 
one after another till some of them take the alarm,” 
The Paradisea apoda, as far as we have any certain knowledge, is confined to the mainland of the Arm 
Islands, never being found in the smaller Islands which surround the centre mass. It is certainly not found 
in any of the parts of New Guinea visited by the Malay and Bugis traders, nor in any of the other islands 
where Birds of Paradise are obtained. But this is by no means conclusive evidence; for it is only in certain 
localities that the natives prepare skins, and in other places the same birds may be abundant without ever 
becoming known. It is therefore quite possible that this species may inhabit the great southern mass of 
New Guinea, from which Arm has been separated ; while its near ally {P.pxtpmmi) is confined to the north- 
western peninsula, I may remark that Mr. Wallace’s prediction that this species would be found on the 
southern part of New Guinea has been verified by Signor D’ Albertis, who recently showed me a fine skin 
obtained by himself on the Fly River far in the interior of S.E. New Guinea. This specimen was a trifle 
smaller, and brighter in colour, than Mr. Wallace’s Arm specimens, of which I have a fine series. 
The figures in the Plate, which I and Mr. Hart have drawn with e.xtreme care, render any detailed 
description of the Great Bird of Paradise unnecessary. Like P. papuana It has the long flank-plumes yellow, 
and not red as in P. raggiana and/*, sangi/inea, and it also wants the yellow collar on the fore neck. 
The female of P. papuana is white on the breast, while In the same sex of P. apoda the breast is maroon 
brown like the hack. 
The Plate represents an adult male and female, of the size of life, drawn from Arm specimens in my 
own collection. 
