APPENDIX.
THE best known Monograph of flie Parad'aeMai liillicrto piiblislied is tliat by Mr. D. G. Elliot.
This Monograpli was written in 1873: it is illnstratecl by niaguificent plates, litbcgrajibeil by Stnit from
original drawings by Joscpli Wolf. Gould, in bis ' Birds of New Guinea,' iignrcd nearly every speeics
known in bis day, and be bad intended to publish a eoinplete Monogra])b of tbe Family, for wbieb
purpose be kejjt the litliograpbie stones from wbieb tbe ])lates in bis above-mentioned work bad been
prepared. Tbus it eaine to pass tbat wlien Messrs. Sotberan purebased the stock of Gould's works after bis
death, they acquired the stones with which be bad intended to illustrate bis Monograph of tbe I'mndkeida;.
Many of them were broken or otherwise damaged, and of these some have been redrawn or replaced by
iiew plates by Mr. Hart. Since Gould's time, however, many marvellous new sjiecies have been discovered,
and these have been described and figured in the presejit work.
The most elaborate memoir of the Birds of Paradise, however, is tbat ])ublished by Count Salvadori in
bis ' Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Moluccbe.' With tbe exce|itioii of the Australian species, which
did not come within the scope of Count Salvadori's work, every Bird of Paradise and Bovver-Bird is treated
of in a way tbat practically exhausted tbe subject at the time; and I may once more take the op|)ortunity of
acknowledging the obligation I owe to the labours of my friend Count Salvadori, as from bis work the
synonymy of most of the species in tbe present Monograph is taken.
In 1894 I published a list of the PmiaHseidce and Ptilmwrhjuclndm (Bidl. Brit. Orn. Club, iv. pp. xii-xv).
It is not so com])lete as it ought to have been, as I omitted Pleridopliiira alberti and (.'ra.yicdiiiiliiirn aUcrti,
and the number of species should have been 84 instead of 82.
Dr. A. B. Meyer, who has always occupied himself with tbe study of the Pumdiscidm, and lias desctihtd
some of the most wonderful forms, such as Pteridophorn nlherti, Astrmcliw steplmnia;, Piirndkimih rudiilplu, &c.,
has recently published a complete list of the known species (Abhandl. k. zool. Mus. Dresden, viino.
2, pp. 39-C3). This is an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of tbe Birds of Paradise, of which
90 species are now recognized by Dr. Meyer. Lastly, in tbe ' Tl.ierreieb,' the Hon. Walter Hothscbild has
monographed the Paradheidoi once more, and bis essay is, therefore, the latest revision of the P^arnily. As
he has admitted in a recently published jiapcr in bis ' Novitates Zoiilogica;' (v. ]ip. 84-87), be differs
considerably froin me and from the other ornithologists above named in his estimate of the worth of certain
genera and s]>ecies.
In place, therefore, of giving a complele historical list of the literature appertaining to the Paradiseida'
am\ Plilmiwlii/iicliidte, i\s, was so well done by Mr. Elliot in his ' Monograph ' that it would have to be
copied here, I have decided merely to give a list of the s])ecies as recognized by me at tbe conclusion ol
the present ' Monogra|)b,' nith a few additional criticisuis on the work of Dr. Meyer and the Hon. alter
Kothscliild, so as to bring the hook up to date.
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