WALLACE’S STANDARD WING, MALE AND FEMALE.
c h a p . XXIV.] A NEW BIRD OF PARADISE. 41
pis touching them. I now saw that I had got a great prize,
no less than a completely new form of the Bird of Paradise,
differing most remarkably from every other known
bird. The general plumage is very sober, being a pure
ashy olive, with a purplish tinge on the back ; the crown
of the head is beautifully glossed with pale metallic violet,
and the feathers of the front extend as much over the beak
as in most of the family. The neck and breast are scaled
with fine metallic green, and the feathers on the lower part
are elongated on each side, so as to form a two-pointed
gorget, which can be folded beneath the wings, or partially O O '
erected and spread out in the same way as the side plumes
of most of the birds of paradise. The four long white
plumes which give the bird its altogether unique character,
spring from little tubercles close to the upper edge of the
shoulder or bend of the wing; they are narrow, gently
curved, and equally webbed on both sides, of a pure
creamy white colour. They are about six inches long,
equalling the wing, and can be raised at right angles to it,
or laid along the body at the pleasure of the bird. The
bill is horn colour, the legs yellow, and the iris pale olive,
This striking novelty has been named by Mr. G-. R. Gray
of the British Museum, Semioptera Wallacei, or “ Wallace’s
Standard wing.”
A few days later I obtained an exceedingly beautiful
new butterfly, allied to the fine blue Papilio Ulysses, but