P A R A D I S E B I R D . 479
kind o f crefcent or gorget, of half an inch or more in width, on the
fore part of the neck ; beneath this, to the vent, the colour is dull
green, except on the middle of the belly, where there is a tranf-
verfe bright green band : the back is black, having both a copper
and purple glofs, in different lights: wings deep black; beneath
them the feathers are downy, but do not exceed at all in length,
like in the other Bird of Paradife: the tail is of an enormous
length, and confifts of twelve feathers of unequal lengths, the
two middle ones being near twenty-two inches long, and the
outer one only five inches ; the colour of all of them much
the fame as the back of the bird.
A complete fpecimen of this moft lingular fpecies is in the pof-
fefiion of Sir Jofeph Banks, who collected it in the voyage round
the world.
This feems to bear fome affinity with the black Bird of Paradife
mentioned by Forrefi *, which he fays is four Ipans in length,,
and of a black colour, without any remarkable glofs j but as this
is all he fays, the matter cannot well be determined. He adds,
that the Alfoories, or inhabitants of the mountains in Mejfmal*
ffioot theft: birds, and fell them, to the people of Udore.
L ’Oife'au de Paradis a gorge violet, farnomme le Superbe, Son> Voy,
p. ij7. pi. 96,
Le Manucode noir de la Nouv-elle G-uinee,, dit le Superbe, Buf, oif. iii.
p. 169.— -P/. enl. 632«
*JpHIS is fomewhat bigger than the King Paradife Bird -fv
The bill is black s at the root of the upper mandible is a
* Forr. Fey. r. 140- N° 4. + The fg . in P l. Snl. meafures tea inches.
black
SUPERB
P. B. t
D escrip t ion.-