DIPHYLLODES RESPUBLICA. Bonap. 
WILSON’S BIRD OF PARADISE. 
Lophorma respubhca . — Bonap., Compt. Rend. (1850), p, 131. 
Diphyllodes respublica , — Bonap., Comp. (1850), p. 413; Sclater, P. Z, S., 1857, p. 6; Von Rosenb., Journ. fur Oraith, 
(1864), p, 130; Elliot, Monogr. Parad. (4873), pi. 14; Gould, Bds. New Guinea (1876), Pt. 3. 
Paradisea wilsoni. — Cass., Journ. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil. (1850), Vol. II. p. 15; Gray, P. Z. S., 1861, p. 436; Sclater, 
P. Z. S., 1865, p. 465 ; Schleg., Mus. Pays-Bas (1S67), p. 87. 
Schleglia caha. — Bernst., Nederl. Tijds. Dierk. (1864), Pt. 1, pi. 7. 
Diphyllodes wilsoni. — Wall., P. Z. S., 1862, p. 160; Newton, Ibis, 1865, p. 343 ; Wall., Malay Arch. (1869), Vol. II. p. 248. 
Hab, — Batana and Waigiou Islands. 
H^HIS curious species was described by Prince Bonaparte, in February, 1850, antedating the late Mr. Cassin, of 
Philadelphia, who also described it in August of the same year. 
Although more than thirty years have passed since it was first made known to science, almost nothing is known 
regarding the economy and habits of this species. Dr. Bernstein was the first naturalist who had the pleasure of seeing it 
alive, and he procured a fine series from the islands of Batana and Waigiou, where he found it not uncommon in the 
interior. In his original notes concerning it, he gave it the rank of a new genus, on account of the peculiar appearance of 
the skull; but both Mr. Elliot and the late Mr. Gould placed it in the present genus, and in my opinion, with our present 
system of classification, the bare tracts of the skull, without other characteristic differences, is not sufficient to admit of its 
generic separation. 
Adult Male, — Head bare, crossed by narrow" lines of short, blackish purple feathers; skin blue, showing a tinge of 
green near the feathers; nuchal crest, bright yellow; mantle crimson, bordered with black; wings brown, the feathers edged 
with crimson, — some of the tertials almost entirely of that color; unclerparts lustrous green, becoming purplish black on 
the throat and head; belly, dark purplish brown; tail browmish, two long feathers of a rich purplish tinge springing from 
the base of the tail, crossing in a graceful curve, webbed only on one side, and resembling in form the figure 6; bill black; 
legs and feet bluish ; iris, reddish browm. 
Length 6; wing 4; tail 1.50; tarsus 1.10; bill .50. 
Adult Female. — Head bare, as in the male; above, dull olive; wangs and tail, brown, tinged with rufous, brightest on 
the secondaries and tertiaries ; underparts pale yellowish, barred with narrow brown lines. Somewhat smaller than the 
male, and wanting! the elongated tail feathers, 
The specimens figured in the plate are from an adult male and female in my collection. 
