EPIMACHUS ELLIOTI. Ward. 
ELLIOT'S BIRD OL PARADISE. 
Kpimachus ellioti . — Ward, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1873, p. 748. — Elliot, Mon. Parad. pi. 20. — Beccari, Annali Mus. Civ. 
Genov. 7, p. 710. — Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. 3, p. 163. — Gould, Bds. New Guinea, Pt. II. 
H ab. — W AIGIOU. 
All that is known regarding this beautiful bird may be summed up in very few words. A single specimen, supposed 
to have been obtained in New Guinea, came into the possession of Mr. Edwin Ward, by whom it was described. The 
type specimen has remained unique up to the present time, and is now in the British Museum. I append Mr. Elliot’s 
description of the type specimen: — 
“Top of the head rich amethyst; occiput and sides of neck also amethyst, changing in certain lights to a rich, light 
greenish gloss; back, wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail brilliant violet-purple; the wings and the tail also marbled with a 
dark amethyst hue like watered silk, changing according to the light ; throat and upper portion of breast deep maroon color, 
with purple reflections ; a narrow reddish-purple band crosses the lower part of the breast ; sides of the breast, flanks, and 
rest of underparts dark green ; the flank feathers much elongated, and stretching beyond the wings; beneath the shoulder 
of the wing spring two rows of plumes, which are greenish at the base, graduating into deep purple and terminating in a 
brilliant metallic blue, very much narrower in the upper row than the lower one. The plumage of the entire bird is very 
velvety in texture, and, with the exception of the metallic parts, appears black in ordinary lights; bill black, rich orange- 
yellow at the gape.” 
