wank-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 Arru 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 assembffi 
they build a little shelter of pdlm-1 eaves 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 Parachsea apocla, as far as we have any certain knowledge, is confined to the mainland of the Arru 
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 Arru has been separated; while its near ally 
(P. papuana) is confined to the northwestern 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 DAlbertis, who recently showed me a 
fine skin obtained by himself on the Fly River, far in the interior of southeastern New r Guinea. This specimen was a trifle 
smaller and brighter in color than Mr. Wallace’s Arru specimens, of which I have a fine series.” 
The specimens are in my own collection. I consider a detailed description of the present species unnecessary, 
the plate being exceedingly accurate. 
