ILXCO COM A X
LYCOGORAX OBIENSIS , Bernst.
Obi Paradise-Crow.
Lxjcocorax obiensis, Bernst. Journ. fiir Orn. 1864, p. 410.—Id. Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. ii. p. 350 (1865).—Schl. op.
cit. iii. p. 192 (1866).—Id. Mus. Pays-Bas, Coraces, p. 132 (1867).—Gray, Hand-list o f Birds, ii. p. 17,
no. 6263 (1870).—^Sharpe, Cat. Birds in Brit. Mus. iii. p. 185(1877).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov,
xvi. p. 199 (1880).—Id. Orn. Papuasia e delie Molucche, ii. p. 495 (1881).—Guillemard, Proc. Zool.
Soc. 1885, p. 573.
T h is species appears to be confined to the Obi group o f islands in the Moluccas, where it replaces
jLycocorax pyrrhopterus o f Batchian and Gilolo, and L . morotensis o f Morotai or Morty Island. It is
distinguished from both by the greenish wash on the upper parts, and it has the quills blacker than in
L . pyrrhopterus. Count Salvadori and ourselves both regarded the white ou the base o f the quills as a
distinctive character of L . morotensis, but Dr. Guillemard, who has recently visited the Obi Islands and
obtained five specimens o f the present species, states that all his series, excepting one bird, had a white mark
on the primaries. The exception was in the case o f a female bird, which was duller in colour than the
males and had the primaries buff.
Dr. Bernstein, the discoverer o f the species, procured it in Obi Major and Obi Lattoo, but he states that,
like L . morotensis, it is a difficult bird to procure, as it frequents the thick forest. Its note is described
by Dr. Bernstein as “ whunk.”
The following description o f an adult bird is copied from the British Museum ‘ Catalogue of Birds,’
and is taken from a specimen in that institution :—
“ General colour above and below of a dull rifle-green, somewhat glistening ; tail hlack, the feathers
slightly washed with green on the outer web ; quills blackish brown, the least wing-coverts edged with dull
green like the scapulars, the rest o f the coverts and secondaries slightly washed with green on the outer
web, the primaries much' paler brown ; bill and feet black. Total length 13‘5 inches, culmen 1*95, wing 7*75,
tail 6'75, tarsus l -9 .”
Dr. Guillemard says that the iris is crimson, but that in the female bird referred to above it was brown.
The figure in the Plate represents an adult bird o f about the size o f life, and is drawn from a specimen
kindlv lent to us by Dr. Guillemard.
[R. B, S.]