I
un
i i
• l ' i !
I . ' i
i' J
IV. nari liti fi (ith .
L O P H O M H I N A M I N O R , Jiani-^ay.
I V'it/p/11 Hixv.in\f>.
I .„J,
LOPHORHINA MINOR,
Lesser Superb Bird of Paradise.
Lophm-hina superba minor,-Ramsaj, Proc. Linn, Soc. N. S Wales x p '42 (1885)
Finseh & Meyer, Zoitechv. ges. On,, ii. p. 370, p fx™. (1885).-IicI. Ibis, 188(i, n 244 -
Meyer op. cit. iii. p. 181, eura (1886).-D'Hamonv. Bull. Soc. Zool. Franee, 18«(i, pp. r,08,
510.-Sharpe, m Gould's Birds of New Guinea, i. pi. 19 (1888).-Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia ii
B I f Ibis, 1890, p. 152.-Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, iii. p. 240 (189I).-.Sharpe,
Bull. Bnt. Orn. Club, iv. p. xiii (1894). iv y i ,
Lopiorhim s,.perla (nec Penn.), De Vis, Colonial Papers, no. 103, p. U.-i (1890) . - Id. Annual Report Britisl,
New Guinea, p. 00 (1890).—Id. Ibis, 1891, p. 30.
Tms ^,ecies is a sn,aller representative of tl,e Superb Bird of Paradise, LojMdna mpcrha, of Nortl,-eastern
New Guinea, and was .liseovered by the late Mr. Carl Hiinstein in the A.strolahe Range in South-eastern
New Guinea. ®
The form of its neek-sliield is, liowever, quite different, as was discovered by Dr. A. B. Meyer when he
had a speeimen mounted for the Gallery of the Dresden Museum. Numerous speeimens have he^n sent to
^ . e British Museum by the late Hon. Hugh Romilly, and by Dr . H. O. Forbes, who proeured the species in the
bogeri district. Mr. Goodwin, who accompanied the e.xpedition of Sir William Macgregor to the Owen
Stanley Mountains, writes to m e A t an altitude of 5000 feet we came aero.,s'this Superb Bird of
1 aradise, and as it fluttered about on the highest perch it could find it looked no bigger than a butterfly
Needless to say, hut few speeimens were obtained. Its call resembles that oi Paroth Imoesi, bnt is not
SO loud.
s i r Wllliain Macgregor records the species on Mount Owen Stanley at 4350 feet, and again from
Goodwin Spur, at from 5000 to 7000 feet. It is not noticed in Dr. Meyers account of tlie collections from
Kaiser M ilbelm's Land, so that It seems to be entirely a species of the Owen Stanley Mountains, so far as is
yet known.
On re-e..amiiiiMg the specimen of superia figured by Gould, and comparing it with the siiecimeiis of
A. ««»«-in the British Museum, from South-eastern New Guinea, not only is the shape of the cervical
shield found to be different, as j.ointed out by Dr. Meyer, but the plumes overhanging the base of the bill
may also prove to he differently disposed.
In L. mperba the angle of the chin is covered up by velvety plumes, and above the nostrils the feathers
widen out into a kind of small fan. The arrangement of the feathers of this part of the head Is, however
one which IS directly affected by the process of preparing the skin, and I su.spect that there is really no
dillerence in life between the two .species in respect to the arrangement of the plumes on the nose and on the
chin. In L. nwm the shield is not nearly so dense, the fork in the middle is much more marke.l, and the
lateral feathers are rounded on the ends and not so |)ointed as m L. supcrha.
Adult male. General colour velvety blaek, with refle.x-ions of coppery bronze on the mantle and cervical
shield, the feathers of these ornamental plumes being edged with oily green at the ends; back and
rump duller black, the upper tall-eoverts velvety black, glossed with purple, the centre feathers with violeth
ue; crown of head metallic steel-green, with a few metallic purple feathers on the nape; sides of face and
tIn-oat velvety black with an oily green shade; across the fore-neck a brilliant elongated shield of metallic
bluish green ; rest of under surface of body black. Total length 8-3 Inches, culmen 1, wing 5-3, tail 3-2
tarsus 1-3. b . .
The adult female is very similar to the male, is much lighter brown and not so chestnut as the female of
and appears to differ also ¡u having a line of white feathers dotted with black from the hinder
part ofthe eye above the ear-coverts; the outer aspect of the quills is paler rufous than the dark chestnut
of the wing in L. supcrha,,xnA the tall is olive-brown. The under surface o f t h e body Is ..aler huff, and the
cross-bars are ])aler.
The descriptions have been taken from a pair of birds in the British Museum, and the figures in the Plate
were drawn from the same birds.