Pygmies & Papuans: The Stone Age To-day in Dutch New Guinea

by A. F. R. Wollaston

The Pygmies often brought plumes of the Lesser Bird-of-Paradise (P. minor) to Parimau and traded them with the natives, but the species was not found on the Mimika, the Charles Louis mountains probably forming its southern boundary.

My account of the display of that species, as witnessed in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, will be found in the Ibis, 1905, p. 429, accompanied by various drawings and a coloured plate by Mr. G. E. Lodge. The display resembles that of the Greater Bird-of-Paradise (P. apoda) and the Red Bird-of-Paradise (P. raggiana) and no doubt also that of P. novæ-guineæ. It is a wonderful and beautiful sight to see these birds erect their splendid side-plumes in an arch over the back, which is concealed in a shivering cascade of colour, orange and white, or red according to the species.

Numbers of the beautiful little King Bird-of-Paradise (Cicinnurus regius) were brought home in all stages of plumage from the young to the fully adult male, with its scarlet head, shading into glittering carmine on the back and wings and into purplish-carmine on the throat, which is bordered below by a rich dark green band. The sides of the chest are ornamented with fan-like arrangements of grey feathers tipped with glittering golden green; the breast and the rest of the under-parts are of the purest white: the outer tail-feathers are earthy-brown edged with orange-red, while the middle pair, which cross one another, have the bare shafts enormously lengthened, and terminate in a tightly curled disc, golden green above and reddish-brown beneath.

These beautiful ornaments are seen to the greatest advantage when the King is displaying, the green-tipped fan-like feathers on the sides and the white feathers of the breast being spread out to form a circular shield in front of the bird, while the green metallic discs of the long middle tail-feathers are erected and waved overhead. An interesting description of the display of this species is given by Sir William Ingram in the Ibis, 1907, p. 225, with a coloured plate and figures drawn by Mr. G. E. Lodge from a living specimen.

Mr. Walter Goodfellow made an interesting observation on the habits of this species. While watching some Pigeons on the opposite bank of the river through his glasses he saw a small bird rise from the top of a tree and soar into the air like a Sky-Lark. After it had risen about 30 feet, it suddenly seemed to collapse and dropped back into the tree as though it had been shot. It proved to be a King Bird-of-Paradise and probably this soaring habit is a part of the display not indulged in by captive birds confined in comparatively small cages.

A Rifle-Bird (Ptilorhis magnifica) was fairly common both on the coast and near the mountains and its call consisting of two long-drawn notes, one ascending, the other descending, might be heard at all hours of the day. Its plumage is mostly velvety black on the head and upper-parts, but the crown, middle of the throat and chest, as well as the middle pair of tail-feathers, are metallic blue and a bronze-green band separates the chest from the deep purplish-maroon under-parts. The outer flight feathers are curiously pointed and strongly falcate and some of the side-feathers terminate in long, narrow decomposed plumes. The long curved bill and the legs are black, while the inside of the mouth is pale apple-green as is the case in several other species of Paradise-Birds.

Though a well-known species, we must not omit to mention the splendid Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise (Seleucides niger). The plumage of the male is like dark brown plush shot with bronze-green on the back and deep violet on the wings, while the long dark breast-feathers are edged with rich metallic emerald-green. The long ornamental side-plumes and the rest of the under-parts are beautiful bright cinnamon-yellow when freshly moulted, but this colour is so volatile that it soon fades to nearly white in skins which have been kept for a few years. The shafts of six of the long side-plumes on either side extend far beyond the vane of the feather and look like twelve recurved wires, hence the bird’s popular name. The eye is crimson, the bill black, the gape bright apple-green, and the legs and toes yellowish flesh-colour.

The Expedition procured three examples of a new form of Parotia or Six-plumed Paradise-Bird on the Iwaka River, but unfortunately did not succeed in shooting a fully adult male. Simultaneously A. S. Meek, who was collecting for Mr. Rothschild, procured specimens of the same bird on the Oetakwa River a few miles to the east, but he likewise did not secure the fully adult male. The species has been named Parotia carolæ meeki by Mr. Rothschild.

The plumage of this bird is like brownish-black plush and equally soft to the touch. The head is ornamented very wonderfully; on either side behind the eye there are three long racket-like plumes on long bare shafts, (a character common to all the members of this remarkable genus of Paradise-Birds): the middle of the crown is of a beautiful “old” gold colour in a setting of silvery white and golden brown: on the occiput there is a marvellous patch of stiff metal-like feathers, golden-green bordered with deep violet; the sides of the head before and behind the eye are golden-brown, the chin and upper part of the throat deep brown, and the lower part whitish, spotted with rufous. A lovely metallic breast-plate of bronze-green and violet feathers with dark middles covers the chest and the long flank-feathers are white. The two outer flight feathers are curiously attenuated near the extremity and terminate in a sharp point, the shaft bearing only a very narrow web. No doubt all these ornaments are displayed in a similar manner to those of P. lawesi from British New Guinea, males of which have been living for some years in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park.

Another very handsome species is the Golden-winged Diphyllodes chrysoptera. The male has the bill and a bare space behind the eye bluish-white, the inside of the mouth apple-green and the feet Prussian blue. The head is clad in short velvety reddish-brown feathers with two metallic green spots between the eyes; the nape bears a frill of lengthened brown-tipped plumes; the mantle is light golden-yellow like spun glass and forms a lengthened tippet; the inner secondary quills and shoulder-feathers are orange-yellow, and the back carmine and dull orange shading into sooty black on the upper tail-coverts. The throat is deep velvety brown, the neck and breast rich dark green bordered below with metallic bluish-green, and with a row of metallic green bars like steps down the middle of the neck and chest; the rest of the under-parts are black. The short outer tail-feathers are sooty brown, while the middle pair which cross one another are very long and narrow and of a metallic bluish-green. The female is very soberly clad, dull brown above and narrowly barred with brown and buff below.