There cm, be no question Unit tl,e earliest nllu.sion to llie speeies is tiu.t of Valenlyn, «1,0 «vas ev.dently a
ve,-yea,-ef„lol,se,-ve>-; a„,l o„ eo.npn.-ins tl,e <lescri|,tio„s given in the wo,-l< of this old travelle,- w,th the
aeeonnts of the ohle,- a„tho,-.s, it is evident that the lattei- a,-c derived f,-o,n tl,e observations of^alentyn.
AUI,ou.'h the |„-ese„t speeies has been said to oeeur in the islan.l of Waigio,,, all the evidence of recent
veai-s t e n i to prove that it is st,-ietly an inhabitant of North-western New Gninea, and it ,s probably
;.onfn,e<l to the Arfak Monnlains. lle,-e it has been aetnally obtained by D'Albertis and Becca,-i, to »hon,
,ve o,ve an aeconnt of its habits. Hceeari writes : - " T h e Eplmadd have bee,, sepa,-ated fro.n the other
liinls ofl'aradise ; hut I ll,ink this is pa,-adoxieal. The for.n and tl,e lengtl, of the beak hpunachm
is most variable ; the yonng n.ales and fen,ales are found with tl,e beak only half the length o( that
of the adult ,nalcs and females. This fact n,ade n,c think at fi,-st that I had found the leinale ot K ell,oh ;
hut I was mistaken. An Epimachns seems to be found at Waigiou, and will p,-obably be E. clUotl-, but I
was not alile to retni-n thei'e as 1 had intended. Ephnaclms waxlmus and yhtrapia gularh are only found
on the highest and n,ost difficult peaks of Mount Arfak, neai-ly always above GOOO feet elevation. Specimens
in dark plnmage ai-e eou„non enough ; but tliose which liave attained perfcct plumage are rai-e, ]>e,'l,aps
bccause they ti,ke some yea,-s to aequi,-e it. lioth of them live on the fruits of cctain Pandanacea;, and
especially on those of the Freymmtias, which a,-e epij)bytous on the trunks of trees."
Mr. Wallace never obtained perfect skins of this species, on which he has published the following note
" T h i s s|,lendid bii'd inhabits the mountains of New Guinea, in the same district with the Superb {Lophorhm
atrd) and the Six-shafted {Parofia sc.rpamis) Pa,-adisc-birds, and, I was i„for,ned, is soinetimes found in^ the
ranges near the coast. I was several times assured by different natives that this bird makes its nest in a
l,ole nmlergronnd, or under i-ocks, always choosiug a place with two apcrtn,-es, so that it may enter at one
and go ont at the other. This is very unlike what we should su],pose to be the habits of the bii'd ; bnt it
is no" easy to conceive how the sto,-y o,-igi„atcd if it is not true; and all t,-avellers kuow that native accounts
of the habits of m,imals, honever st,-ange they may seem, almost invariably turn out to be correct."
The descriptions are taken fron, the ' Catalogue of Birds.'
AtluU male. Above velvety black, with metallic feathcs of coppcy green on the head, middle of the back,
and rnmp ; lores and feathers on the side of tlie head n,etaHic like the crown ; enli,-e under suiface of
body velvety black, with a purplish-brown gloss on the sides of the body; on each side of the breast springs
a tnft of sieklc-shaped plumes in the shape of a fan, velvety black, tipped with a broad baud of steel-bine,
before w h i c h is a narrow snhterminal band of pu,-i)lish blue; flank-feathers long and di'oopiug, the outer
ones bi-oadly tipped with metallic b,-oi,zy-grccn, before which is a double subterminal band of velvety black
and pn,-plish blue ; wings velvety blaek, with a gloss of steel-blue ; tail-foathe,-s black, all but thetl,ree outermost
feathei-s washed with steel-blne, the two centre ones entii-ely of this colour: hill and legs black ; iris
dark brick-rcd {Ueccari). Total lenglh 26 inches, culmeu 2'85, wing 7-2, tail IGv.
Female. Upper part of head bi-ownish red ; rest of upper parts olive-brown, becoming slightly rufous on
the rnnip and npper tail-coverts ; secondai-ics reddish bi'own, edged with rufous ; primaries daik brown,
edge of outer web rufous ; clieeks, throat, and npper part of b,-east brownish black; undcrparts white,
narrowly barred with black ; tail light brow„, with a rufous tinge : bill long and slender, much curved, and,
w ith the feet and tarsi, jet-black.
Count Salvadori, who has examined a large series of this bl,-d, states that the young bi,-ds are at first very
much like the old female, and that the black jilnmage is obtained by a change of feather instead of by a moult.
The first indication of the changc is seen by a blackening of the tail-feathers. This dark appcarauce next
extends to the wings m,d the back. The Count has not been able to trace the sequence of change of the
black plnmage, but he states that he has no doubt that the black di'css is assumed by a change of pattern
of feather rather than by a monlt.
The Plate represents a male and female, nearly of the natural size. It is the same as that which appeared
in Mr. Gould's 'Birds of New Guinea,' and the figures are taken from a fine pair formerly in his collection,
and now in the British Museum.