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H J&AV«/«r.r.ni A ÌTHart dtl tt i,H,
X . O B O J P A R ^ I D I S J E A SKRICEA,R e Ü u s c h z U .
J \ IinJtfn-Brc.s. imp.
LOBOPARADISEA SERICEA, Rothschild.
Shield-billed Bower-bird.
Loboparaiism sericea, Rothschild, Bull Brit. Ora. Club, vi. p. XT (1898).—Id. Novit. Zool. iv. p. 109, pi. li.
fig. 2 (1897).
THE only specimen at present known of this curious bird is in the collection of the Hon. Walter Rothschild,
at Triiig. It has been described by him as a Bird of Paradise, but it is apparently a Bower-bird,
though this is a question difficult to settle at the present moineiit. From a comparison ot its characters it
would ajipear to be related to Lorici and Cnemophilus, as it has the nasal aperture covered by a wattle, in
place of the feathers which hide the nasal opening in the two above-named genera. In the true Bower-birds
the nasal aperture is exj)osed.
Ml-. Rothschild writes :—" The colour of the wattles is guessed from what they look like in tlie dried
skin, which is said to have been bought from natives at Koeroedoe, on the northern coast of Dutch
New Guinea. This place, Koeroedoe, is not to be mistaken for Korrido in Geelviuk Bay."
The following is a description of the type specimen in Mr. Rothschild's collection :—
General colour above chestnut-brovvii, with a slight golden shade on the hind-neck and mantle ; wings
rather more chestnut than the back ; quills chestnut-brown, with dusky tips to the inner webs, decreasing in
extent on the secondaries, which are almost entirely reddish brown; lower back and rump sulphur-yellow;
upper tail-coverts and tail chestnut-brown; crown of head and najie dusky brown, contrasting slightly
with the back ; the sides of the face darker than the head ; cheeks and uiuler surface of body sul])liur-yellow ;
the under tail-coverts tipped with chestnut; thighs reddish brown ; axillaries sulphur-yellow, slightly washed
with chestnut; under wing-coverts and quill-lining chestnut: " hill with two large wattles reaching halfway
down frouj the base, dull blue with yellow tips " (JV. Rothschiid). Total length (i'S inches, culmen 075,
wing 3-5, tail 2'1, tarsus 1'2.
The figure represents the type specimen of the size of life, drawn from a painting by Mr. Keulemans.
I have to acknowledge Mr. Rothschild's kindness in permitting mc to describe and figure the specimen.