POËPHILA MIRABILIS, Homb.etJacq.
Beautiful Grass-Finch.
Poéphila mirabilis, Homb. et Jacq. Voy. au Pôle Sud.—O. des Murs, Icon. Om., pl. 3. fig. 1.
F in e examples o f this, one o f the most lovely of the Finches yet discovered, are contained in the gallery of
the Museum o f Natural History of P a r is ; they were procured hy Messrs. Hombron and Jacquinot in the
neighbourhood of Raffles’ Bay, on the north coast o f Australia, where it is so rare, th at those gentlemen
only met with three examples, and were unable to make themselves acquainted with its actions and manners.
In the works above-quoted my Poephila Gouldice is figured as the female o f the present bird, but this I
believe to be a mistake, the specimen from which my description and figure were taken being to all appearance
an adult male; and as an evidence th at such may be the case, I may mention th at no female o f the
group has yet been discovered so gorgeously a rra y e d ; the females of all the Poephilae I have seen resemble
their respective males in the colouring o f their plumage, but have all the hues much less b rilliant; it is not
probable therefore that a bird so gaily coloured as the P . Gouldice should be the female o f the P . mirabilis;
besides which, Mr. Gilbert procured an example o f P . Gouldice during Dr. Leichardt’s Expedition from
Moreton Bay to Po rt Essington, which dissection proved to be a female, and which although similarly,
was much less highly coloured than the bird I have represented.
Crown of the head and cheeks o f a beautiful carmine, bounded posteriorly by a narrow line o f black ;
throat black; to this succeeds a band o f pale blue, narrow on the throat and broad on the back o f the n e ck ;
back and wings green, passing into yellow a t the nape o f the n e c k ; breast crossed by a broad band of lilac,
separated from the yellow o f the abdomen by a narrow line o f o ran g e ; rump and upper tail-coverts pale
blue ; quills brown ; bill fleshy white, becoming redder a t the t ip ; feet flesh-colour.
The figures represent a male in two positions of the natural size.