Manucodia and Phonygammus are the only Passerine birds known to have a convoluted trachea.[[292]]
Ptilorhis paradisea, the Rifleman-bird,[[293]] is velvety-black with a purple gloss, having the head, throat, and median rectrices green, the abdomen bronzy; the crown-feathers are scale-like, and the silky flank-plumes considerably elongated. P. magnifica is somewhat similarly coloured, with a stiff pectoral shield of metallic green; Ianthothorax and Paryphephorus, with erectile nuchal collars, are near allies. Seleucides ignotus the Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise, which has six long, recurved and filiform appendages to the lax, projecting feathers of each side, is black, with purplish head, wings, and tail, bronzy back, broad erectile breast-plumes margined with emerald, yellow sides and belly. Drepanornis albertisi is rufous-brown, with green throat and ante-ocular region, white belly and dusky breast; the sides of the last exhibit dark-edged bronzy plumes, which can be expanded like a fan, succeeded by long grey decomposed feathers with lilac margins; and small bluish tufts surmount the bare orbits and post-ocular region. Falcinellus speciosus is black with rainbow-like reflexions; the broad plumes of the sides of the upper breast being banded with metallic blue and green, and having wide tips which open upwards into a fan; while the long pointed flank-feathers compose similarly coloured tufts.
Fig. 125.–Long-tailed Bird of Paradise. Falcinellus speciosus. × ⅐. (From Malay Archipelago.)
Astrapia nigra, the Paradise-Pie of old authors, is bronzy-black above and green below, with golden-green occiput and nape, purplish black throat, coppery fore-neck, and violet tail, the feathers round the head forming an erectile frill. A. stephaniae has the head and neck bluer, the breast purplish-bronze. The smaller A. splendidissima has a more brilliant nape-region, red fore-neck, and much buff on the tail. Macgregoria pulchra is black, with mainly orange-buff primaries, and an orange wattle covering most of the face. Paradigalla carunculata is black, with green and bronzy sheen above; the front of the head being naked, with three wattles on each side–one broad and yellow above the bill, another moderate and blue at the gape, a third small and red below it. Paradisea apoda, the Great Bird of Paradise, is rich brown, becoming purplish beneath; the head and neck are pale yellow, the forehead, lores, cheeks, and throat metallic green. The wiry median rectrices have very slight apical and basal webs, while long, thick, extensile tufts of delicate decomposed golden-orange feathers, tipped with brown, grace the sides. Of its congeners, P. minor has the mantle straw-coloured; P. raggiana has a light yellow gorget, and red lateral plumes like those of P. (Uranornis) rubra, the Red Bird of Paradise. P. (Paradisornis) rudolphi is greenish-blue and dusky above, with blackish head, neck, and under surface, and a purplish occipital patch. From the sides of the body spring two series of elongated, decomposed feathers; the outer and stiffer being ultramarine, changing terminally to lilac with a brown external tinge, the inner smaller and deeper blue. Below these come a row of short chestnut plumes and finally a set of black. The two long median rectrices are violet-black with small blue racquet-tips.
Fig. 126.–Magnificent Bird of Paradise. Diphyllodes magnifica. × 3⁄7. (From Malay Archipelago.)
Cicinnurus regius, the King Bird of Paradise, hardly seven inches long, is glossy crimson, with a metallic green band dividing the throat from the white lower parts. An expansible fan of ashy plumes tipped with emerald arises from each side, while the long median tail-wires have the terminal green inner webs coiled into discs. The feathering reaches far down the orange bill; the feet are cobalt, contrasting with the black, yellowish, or fleshy tints usual in the Family. Diphyllodes gulielmi tertii is orange-red with mainly dusky wings and tail; the long nuchal ruff being orange, the lateral neck-tufts purplish-brown, the pectoral shield green edged with emerald, the long side-plumes brown with green ends, the belly purple. D. magnifica has a brown head and under surface, green throat and breast-shield, orange-brown back surmounted by a double cape of straw-yellow upon red-brown, and long, curved steel-blue tail-wires. Schlegelia respublica is remarkable for its naked blue head, with two lines of brown feathers crossing each other at right angles, and for its blue feet. The upper parts are successively green, yellow, crimson, black, and brown; the silky gular shield is green, with metallic blue spots above and coppery marks below; the lateral breast-plumes shew coppery and green hues. Parotia sexpennis, the Six-wired Bird of Paradise, is bronzy- and purplish-black, having scale-like golden throat- and breast-feathers with green and blue reflexions. A satiny white patch crosses the forehead; the occiput is green, blue, and purple, having two lateral tufts, from each of which spring three wires terminating in small black discs; while large, soft, erectile masses of black adorn each side of the body. Semioptera wallacii, the Standard-wing, is mouse-coloured, with somewhat bronzy back and violet head; the pectoral feathers have green edges; the green shield on the fore-neck extends in lateral tufts to the flanks; and two long, narrow white plumes, erected at will, adorn the bend of each wing. Lophorhina superba is black, with blue, green, and bronzy gloss on the head and neck; the bluish-green breast-shield is prolonged at the sides, and a metallic black erectile ruff graces the nape. Lamprothorax has coppery, green, purple, rosy, and brownish hues, and two long blue-green median rectrices. Phonygammus jamesi is purplish-violet, with blue-green head, under surface, lanceolate neck-feathers, and acuminate occipital tufts. The extraordinary Pteridophora alberti possesses a wonderful streamer behind each eye, twice as long as the body. This has, on the outer side only, about thirty-seven thin quadrangular enamel-like lobes, which are light blue with dusky backs. The plumage is black, with olive rump-region and ochraceous lower parts, the head and neck shewing elongated plumes.
Fig. 127.–Six-wired Bird of Paradise. Parotia sexpennis. × ⅙. (From Malay Archipelago.)