Ornithological Progress in New Guinea. 249 
of from eighteen to twenty or more ; after the first shot they 
become very shy: they are seldom killed by the hunters, 
because they look on them as dull and uninteresting birds, 
and because they are infested with an immense number of 
little parasites, which spread in all directions, and cause a 
most unpleasant itching. As to the Paradise-birds, I have 
obtained all the species belonging to the region. At Ansus I 
got two specimens of Diphyllodes chrysoptera, which seems to 
be found also at Amberbaki and elsewhere. It seems most 
improbable to me that Diphyllodes gulielmi-tertii should be 
found at Waigiou, because the type specimen (which I have 
seen) was, if I do not mistake, prepared in the manner of 
the Alfuros of New Guinea, and was acquired at Salwatti 
from a ‘Bugis Nakoda* (captain of a Celebes boat), to 
whom it had most likely come from Has. It seems to me 
hardly probable that the female is the bird that has been 
described as such. I have had information of this bird at 
Wa-Samson; and it is not improbable that it may also be 
found at Salwatti. The Epimachi have been separated from 
the other birds of Paradise ; but I think this is paradoxical. 
The form and length of the beak of Epimachus maximus is 
most variable; the young males and females are found with 
the beak only half the length of that of the adult males and 
females. This fact made me think at first that I had found 
the female of Epimachus ellioti', but I was mistaken. An 
Epimachus seems to be found at Waigiou, and will probably 
be E. ellioti; but I was not able to return there as I had 
intended. Epimachus maximus and Astrapia gularis are only 
found on the highest and most difficult peaks of Mount 
Arfak, nearly always above 6000 feet elevation. Specimens 
in dark plumage are common enough; but those which have 
attained perfect plumage are rare, perhaps because they take 
some years to acquire it. Both of them live on the fruits of 
certain Pandanacece, and especially on those of the Frey emetine, 
which are epiphytous on the trunks of trees. The irides of the 
large Epimachus are dark brick-red, those of the Astrapia 
almost black; the neck-feathers of the latter are erectable, 
and expand into a magnificent collar round the head. The 
seb. hi. —VOL. vi. s 
