XANTHOMELUS AUREUS. 
Golden Bird of Paradise. 
Golden Bird of Paradise, Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, iii. p. 112 (1750). 
Oriolus aureus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 163 (1766). — Gi'ay, Gen. of B. i. p. 232 (1845). — Id. Hand-list B. i. p. 293 
(1869). 
Paradisea aurea. Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 195 (1790). 
Le Paradis orangf Audeb. et Vieill. Ois. Dor. ii. p. 26, pis. 11, 12 (1802). 
Le Loriot de Paradis, Levaill. Hist. Nat. Ois. Farad, i. pis. 18, 19 (1806). 
Paradisea aurantia, Shaw, Gen. Zool. yii. p. 499, pi. 68 (1809). 
LopJiorhina aurantia, Stephens, Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 76 (1826). 
Sericulus aurantiacus, Less. Traite, p. 339 (1831). — -Id. Ois. Farad. Syn. p. 20 (1835). — Id. H. N. Ois. Farad, 
p. 201, pis. 25, 25 bis, 25 ter (1835). 
Sericulus aureus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 349 (1850). — Gray, F. Z. S. 1861, p. 435.— Wall. Ibis, 1861, 
p. 287. — Id. F. Z. S. 1862, p. 160. — Id. Malay Arch. ii. p. 257 (1869). — Schl. Mus. F.-B. Coraces, 
p. 98 (1867). — Sclater, Ibis, 1876, p. 248. 
Xanthomelus aureus, Bonap. Coniptes Rendus, xxxviii. p. 538 (1854). — Elliot, Ibis, 1872, p. 112. — Id. Monogr. 
Farad, pi. 15 (1873). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 783 (1875). — Id. op.cit. ix. p. 192 
(1876). — Sharpe, Cat. Bh’ds, iii. p. 186 (1877). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, x. p. 152 (1877). 
Sericulus mntliogaster, Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdsch. Dierk. v. p. 50 (1871). — Salvad. Ibis, 1876, p. 267. — Id. Atti 
R. Accad. Torino, xi. p. 688 (1876). 
Chlamydodera xanthogastra, Elliot, Ibis, 1872, p. 113. — Id. Monogr. Farad.pl. xxxiii. (1873). — Sclater, F. Z. S. 
1873, p. 697. 
It will be seen tlmt this remarkable Bird of Paradise was described and figured by Edwards more than one 
hundred and twenty years ago ; and yet it is only within the last five years that we have been able to get 
perfect examples for our European collections. It may readily be imagined that the dried skins prepared 
by the natives afforded us but a very faint idea of its beauty ; and therefore it gives me great 
pleasure to acknowledge my obligation to my friend Count Salvadori, who, during his visit 
to this country, was so kind as to bring with him some lovely specimens for my use in the present work ; 
and I must record en passant my appreciation of the zeal shown by his countrymen in the scientific 
explorations recently made by Italian naturalists in New Guinea. It must be remembered that the present 
species was one of the few Birds of Paradise w'hich Mr. Wallace was unable to obtain in a perfect state ; and 
it had also baffled the endeavours of the Dutch naturalists to obtain the bird in the adult plumage. 
The Golden Bird of Paradise is an interesting species in every way. Ornithologists who have studied 
Mr. Elliot’s ‘ Monograph of the Paradisiidse ’ will remember that he has included in that family the 
Bower-birds, and on one of his plates he figured a species as belonging to the latter group under the name 
of Chlamydodera wanthogastra. This bird had been previously described as a Sericulus by Prof. Schlegel, 
from specimens sent to the Leiden Museum from North-western New Guinea by Baron von Rosenberg; so 
that Mr. Elliot was but following Dr. Schlegel in assigning it a place among the Bower-birds ; and there was 
nothino- in the habitat of the species to render it unlikely that it would prove to be a Chlamydodera, as the 
latter genus is found all over many parts of Australia, and one species at least, C. cermnwentrls, is very com- 
mon in South-eastern New Guinea. It was therefore with considerable surprise that ornithologists must 
have regarded a communication from Count Salvadori to ‘ The Ibis,’ stating that he had come to the con- 
clusion that Sericulus wanthogaster of Schlegel was nothing more than the young of Xanthojnelus aureus. 
Having looked carefully into the matter myself, I have not the least doubt that Count Salvadori is perfectly 
right in his conclusions. 
In his third volume of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds ’ Mr. Bowdler Sharpe has not admitted the Bower-birds 
into the family Paradisiidse, in that respect differing from Mr. Elliot ; but he places Xanthomelus among the 
true Paradise-birds, leading from them to the Orioles. A further knowledge of the habits of the species 
is very desirable and can alone determine whether it should be placed among the Bower-birds. 
