L ’Oifeau de Paradis furnomme le Magnifique, Son. Voy. p. 163. pi. 9g ._
PI. enL 631.
Le Magnifique de la Nouvelle Guineu, on le Manucode a Bouquets, Buf.
oiJ>\ iii. p. 166.
g I Z E of a Blackbird: length nine inches. The bill is an inch
in length, a little bent, of a pale yellow, with the tip and
bafe black: the feathers about the head are Ihort and velvety:
the crown and nape are of a deep cheftnut yellow, but on the
fird: incline to cheftnut: the feathers which cover the noftrils,
between the bill and eye, and round' the chin, are fhort, thick
fet, and ftand out from the reft : between the gape of the
mouth and the eye is a fpot of lucid green : at the back part of
the neck behind arifes a tuft of yellowiflh feathers, each of them
marked near the tip with a fpot of black; beneath this firft
fprings a fecond packet, which is larger, and of a ftraw-colour,
which lay loofely over the back : the back itfelf and tail are of a
bright red brown: from the chin to the thighs the colour is
blackifh, having a refleffion, in fome lights, of green, and in a
quiefcent ftate of the bird, fall over part of the wing-coverts :
down the middle of the throat, neck, and breaft, the colour is
blue green, and the feathers ftiort and downy : the lecondaries are
of a deep yellow; the prime quills brown, and reach nearly to
the end of the tail; from the place of the infertion of the middle
ones arife two long wiry lhafts, like as in the former fpecies,
which curve in a circle, and are furnifhed with very ftiort green
webs on one fide, and end in a point: the legs are yellow.
M. Sonnerat is the firft who has defcribed this bird j and informs
us that it is found in New Guinea. In the collection of Mifs
10 Blomefield
MAGNIFICENT
P. B.
Pl. XIX.
D escription.
PLACE